For Trump, Hints of Trouble in Ethanol Country

by Art Cullen (Storm Lake Times/Washington Post) ... (J.D.) Scholten, a 39-year-old former semi-pro pitcher, was out on a 14-county “Don’t Forget About Us Tour” targeting Iowa towns of 1,000 people or fewer in his uphill climb against Rep. Steve King, the anti-immigrant Republican who dabbles in white nationalism.

Scholten gave King, 70, a scare last year in an election that saw Democrats take the House. In Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, Republicans outnumber Democrats by 70,000. Scholten finished 10,000 votes short. “Last time I thought we could win,” Scholten said. “This time I expect we will win.”

While much of the state is in the throes of harvest, Scholten says he smells something in the corn dust. Farmers here are unhappy with President Trump for granting 31 petroleum refineries waivers from federal requirements that they blend corn ethanol into their gasoline. Corn prices dropped not long after. Former governor Terry Branstad, now ambassador to trade-conflicted China, warned Trump not to grant the waivers. Trump did it anyway. “They screwed us,” Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the state’s senior senator, admitted.

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They warmed to Scholten’s populist call for antitrust enforcement in agribusiness, universal health care and a fair shake for forgotten places. Their questions were about ethanol, rising health-care costs and rural development. Nothing about impeachment.

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(Pete) Buttigieg organizers attend each of his events, signaling that they intend to do battle along the rural routes. He invited all the presidential candidates on his tiny town tour, but only Cory Booker took him up on it.

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It seems to be working, when men with shotguns on gravel roads ask how they might help, and Dutch farmers swear they will not vote for Trump or his acolytes. There is unrest in the towns that Trump forgot. READ MORE

Trade war with China and climate change on Iowa farmers' minds ahead of caucus season (CBS News)

Focus on Ag: Understanding the impact of RFS waivers (Farm Forum)

Policy, prices, trade focus of agricultural concerns (Boonville Daily News)

Valero Shuts Two Ethanol Plants a Year After Green Plains Deal (Bloomberg)

The Ethanol Crisis Has Claimed Another Victim (OilPrice.com)

Biofuel groups make issue a top priority for 2020 candidates (Ag Update)

Trump’s trade wars are hurting farmers. Can Sonny Perdue keep them happy? (Washington Post)

Trump urged to declare waived RFS gallons will be recaptured (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

Excerpt from Ag Update: Bill Couser, a farmer and board member at Lincolnway Energy in Nevada, Iowa, is one of the people making this a top issue.

This time around Couser has joined with several other farmers and politicians to form Biofuels Vision 2020, a coalition aimed at educating candidates in both parties about renewable fuels. The group was only recently formed, but its website (www.biofuelsvision.com) includes statements from many of the candidates about their stance regarding biofuels.

Former Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge is also involved in the ethanol push this caucus season. Judge has joined with former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in forming Focus on Rural America (www.focusonruralamerica.com), a group aimed at educating the many Democratic presidential candidates this caucus season and working with them on rural economic issues.

Shaw (Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association) makes no bones about his hope Trump reverses the actions of his own Environmental Protection Agency and changes the proposed rule regarding those waivers this fall. But he says the combination of those waivers and the ongoing trade war with China certainly gives the many Democratic presidential candidates an opportunity this time around.

The last round of refinery waivers hit farmers and ethanol proponents hard, Shaw says.

“That was a real tipping point,” he says. “It was like a two by four to the forehead.”

And so the various groups continue to work to get the many Democratic candidates and any Republican challengers to the president to visit ethanol plants in the state and to talk about biofuel issues. A number of candidates have already done so. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., was one of the first, which Shaw says was no surprise, since Klobuchar represents a Midwestern state with a strong ethanol industry.

He adds that other candidates, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have also been strong on biofuel issues. And former vice president Joe Biden just visited an ethanol plant near Dyersville last week. READ MORE