US Corn, Soy Growers Both Left Disappointed by Renewable Fuel Requirements

Jun 22, 2023

American corn and soybean growers were both left disappointed after the US Environmental Protection Agency announced its final renewable fuel volume obligations for 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Formally announced Wednesday, the new obligations under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard will require 2.82 billion gallons of bio and renewable diesel to be blended into the nation’s fuel supply in 2023, unchanged from the EPA’s preliminary rule released back in December. For 2024 and 2025, the requirements rise to 3.04 billion and 3.35 billion gallons, versus the EPA’s December targets of 2.89 billion and 2.95 billion.

For conventional corn-based ethanol, the EPA set an implied 15.25-billion-gallon requirement for 2023, up 250 million gallons from its original proposal. For 2024 and 2025, the EPA held the implied volume level at 15 billion gallons, despite initially calling for 15.25 billion gallons for those two years.

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Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.