Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signs biofuel bill into law

May 18, 2022

The bill requires gas stations to sell fuel with at least 15 percent ethanol

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A piece of legislation designed to ease gas prices and support producers is now law in Iowa.

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed HF2128, the Biofuels Bill, into law on May 17 while visiting a farm near Prairie City.

“I’ve never been prouder than I am today to be the Governor of the number one ethanol and biodiesel-producing state in the country,” she said in a statement. “Iowa’s biofuel production powers our economy and fuels the world, and this historic bill sets the stage for the single largest expansion of biofuels in our state’s history. We’re sending a message that we can’t be ignored: America’s energy is growing right here in Iowa’s fields.”

The bill sets out standards for fuel retailers who must offer E15 to customers, beginning in 2026.

If the gas station has more than one pump, for example, half of the pumps at the gas station must have E15.

The bill also includes incentives for stations selling B-20 biodiesel.

Gas stations selling fewer than 300,000 gallons of gasoline per year or have older equipment can apply for waivers from the legislation.

Reynolds signing the bill received support from the ag industry and renewable fuels sector.

The national average price of gas on May 18 in the U.S. is $4.56 per gallon, the American Automobile Association said. In Iowa the average price is $4.12.

Governor Reynolds signing this bill into law will help bring fuel prices down, said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.

“At a time of record-breaking fuel prices, the Governor’s Biofuels Access bill will provide relief for consumers and long-term markets for farmers. It is not exaggerating to say that the Iowa Biofuels Access bill is the most important piece of biofuels legislation ever enacted in Iowa,” he said in a statement.

The Iowa Corn Growers Association also support the bill.

“It expands the availability of E15 to consumers, saving them an average of 10 cents per gallon, and creates additional markets for Iowa corn farmers. It’s a win-win for Iowa,” said Lance Lillibridge, a farmer and president of the ICGA.”

Only about 17 percent of Iowa gas stations provide customers with E15.

The Iowa Department of Revenue identified 2,580 retail locations in 2020, meaning only about 438 offered E15.

This new bill will help bring that number closer to 70 percent of fuel stations (1,806) by 2024.

Video: Western Canadian Agriculture: Hard Times Made the World's Best Farmers

Western Canadian agriculture produced the most advanced farmers in the world not through abundance but through adversity. The crow rate fell. The wheat price went nowhere. The brown envelopes stopped.

When the subsidies disappeared, the bad farmers left and the good ones stayed. And the ones who stayed could not just grow wheat anymore. They started growing lentils and canola and peas and flax and faba beans. They built crop rotation. They got serious about agronomy because there was no government backstop. That process produced the Western Canadian agriculture Dennis Bulani describes in this clip: the most advanced, most educated farming culture in the world.

His contrast with Iowa corn and soybean farmers is sharp. At a DeKalb farmer meeting in Okoboji, Iowa, he asked what crop rotation they ran. Beans on corn stubble, corn on bean stubble. How do you fertilize? The co-op agronomist handles it. Have you considered other crops? No need. We make so much money on corn and soybeans. Western Canadian agriculture was never allowed that comfort. And now those Iowa farmers are watching soybean markets lock up with China and corn prices slide, and they do not have the agronomy knowledge or the research base to pivot. Western Canadian farmers adapted on a dime because they had done it before.

Dennis also makes the case that Western Canadian agriculture keeps adapting in real time. Low commodity prices over the past year have pushed growers to look seriously at precision spot-spray technology. He knows a neighbor who bought a sprayer with the seeing-eye system and sprayed only 80 out of 320 acres. As a chemical retailer Dennis acknowledges that will affect his sales. He supports it anyway, because if it advances Canadian agriculture and makes farmers money, that is a good outcome.

The lesson Dennis draws from the tale of two farms: continuous improvement is the only durable strategy. When canola was $22 a bushel some growers went to Arizona instead of the Crop Production Show. When the price came down those same growers came back to the research and the discipline. Products do not go on Rack Petroleum's shelves unless they pass a replicated trial first. That is what Western Canadian agriculture built through hard times: farmers who do the work whether the times demand it or not.

Dennis Bulani is CEO of Rack Petroleum and Ultimate Yield in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Dan Aberhart hosts GTF Productions, Western Canadian Agriculture's foremost live briefing platform and its foremost AI training platform for ag operators