Iowans Call on Congress and President Trump to Finish the Job for E15

Feb 18, 2026

Today, the Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) and Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) called on Congress and President Trump to finally approve nationwide, year-round E15. The recently formed Rural Domestic Energy Council was scheduled to release an E15 approval framework by February 15, but no announcements have been made.

“This is no time for quitting on E15,” said Monte Shaw, IRFA Executive Director. “Farmers and consumers are counting on Congress and President Trump to finish the job for E15. A small number of foreign owned oil refiners should not be allowed to sabotage an E15 agreement supported by the vast majority of farmers, retailers, oil refiners, and consumers. Congress needs to prove it can function, because we’re getting fed up with the dysfunction. IRFA appreciates the leadership of the Iowa delegation on E15 and urges them to keep fighting until Congressional leaders listen to common sense.”

While February 15 has passed, the rule authorizing the Energy Council gave until the end of the month for floor action on E15. A recent corn supply study underscored the need to develop new markets to underpin farm income and rural economies. According to the study, adoption of nationwide, year-round E15 would provide robust near-term demand with the ability to return corn prices to profitable levels.

“Iowa’s corn farmers greatly appreciate the work of our federal leaders in the U.S. House and Senate for their continued commitment to getting E15 across the finish line,” said Mark Mueller, ICGA President and farmer from Waverly, Iowa. “We now ask that the Rural Domestic Energy Council release their solutions that grant Americans access to nationwide, year-round E15. Farmers need market access for their homegrown ethanol, and consumers deserve the right to choose cheaper, cleaner-burning E15 at the pump. The time is now to get this legislation across the finish line and produce a win that benefits American farmers and consumers alike.”

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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