Ethanol industry upset with refinery exemptions

Aug 21, 2019

The Environmental Protection Agency granted 31 exemptions

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The American corn and ethanol industries are displeased with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to grant several refinery exemptions.

The EPA granted 31 exemptions on Aug. 9. Refineries may receive them if they can prove that complying with Renewable Volume Obligations “would cause the refinery to suffer disproportionate economic hardship,” the EPA said in a statement.

Since 2018, the EPA has granted 53 waivers, totaling 2.61 billion gallons of fuel made without ethanol.

These kinds of production cuts are having significant effects on the supply chain.

“At least 15 ethanol plants have now shut down or idled since EPA began its refiner bailout bonanza last year, and more than 2,500 jobs have already been affected,” Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said in an Aug. 20 statement. “Ethanol production and demand continue to slide, prices continue to sink, and margins continue to bleed red.”

Some of the plants preparing to stop ethanol production belong to POET, the nation’s leading ethanol manufacturer.

Its plant in Cloverdale, Ind., which processes more than 30 million bushels of corn each year, will idle. And across its 28 biorefineries in Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, South Dakota and Missouri, production will drop by about 100 million bushels.

Continued cuts will hurt farmers, said Jeff Broin, chairman and CEO of POET.

“My long-term fear isn’t for the biofuels industry, it’s for rural America,” he said in an Aug. 20 statement. “POET can continue to produce ethanol with cheap grain, but we don’t want to lose our family farmers. The EPA has robbed rural America, and it’s time for farmers across the Heartland to fight for their future.”

With the 2020 presidential election looming, some farmers are considering not voting for Trump to show solidarity.

“I have talked to a bunch of farmers in the past few days, and they are fed up,” Kelly Nieuwenhuis, a corn and soybean grower from O’Brien County, Iowa, told Reuters. “They are not going to vote for Elizabeth Warren, but they said they are not going to vote for Trump, so they will sit this (election) out.”

Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

Today, through creative partnerships and a commitment to the five principles of regenerative agriculture, Will is reintroducing diversity, building soil health and extending living roots in the ground for as much of the year as possible. Whether it’s through intercropping, zero tillage (which he’s practiced since the 1980s) or managing forage for visiting cattle, Will’s approach is a testament to continuous learning and a willingness to challenge old norms.

Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.