By Ryan Hanrahan
Bloomberg’s Kim Chipman, Alicia Diaz, Erin Ailworth and Ilena Peng reported late last week that “after losing their biggest export market due to Donald Trump’s trade wars, US farmers are now counting on the president’s support for biofuels to prevent their next crop from piling up in storage.”
“The administration is set to soon unveil a plan for how much crop-based biofuels will be blended into fossil fuels starting next year,” Chipman, Diaz, Ailworth and Peng reported. “A higher mandate, still opposed by some in the oil industry, would create a much needed outlet for crops after tariffs hit China — the top commodities buyer simply has no orders for corn, soybeans or wheat from the next harvest on its books, according to the US Department of Agriculture.”
“‘If we don’t get this done, we’ll end up with a surplus of soybeans,’ Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer who is also president of the American Soybean Association, said of the upcoming biofuels mandate,” Chipman, Diaz, Ailworth and Peng reported. “‘I can store one good crop, I can’t store multiple years.'”
“Boosting demand at home is a key priority for growers, industry groups and some of the top agricultural commodity traders. That’s because overseas sales of soybeans from the next crop are currently running 79% below the average of the past five years, USDA data showed. Corn sales are 49% lower,” Chipman, Diaz, Ailworth and Peng reported.
Source : illinois.edu