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Iowa farmer tells EPA how biofuel demand destruction affects him

An Iowa farmer is not satisfied with EPA’s handling of small refinery waivers for blending biofuels. Robb Ewoldt from southeast Iowa is a member of the Iowa Soybean Association. He says, “I feel that we have been betrayed by this administration and this agency, to be honest with you. We had a law that was set out there, and that law said that we’re going to protect and we’re going to use renewable fuels, and we’re not doing it.”

Ewoldt testified at EPA’s hearing on the proposed biofuels rule that their small refiner exemptions under the Renewable Fuels Act not only reduces demand, it hurts the bottom line of farmers like him. “I calculated that in our small operation, we’re probably losing 75-100 thousand dollars this year due to the waivers that have been granted over the past three years.”

Ewoldt says he’s in survival mode now because commodity prices are low, in part because of biofuel demand destruction by the EPA. “We should be selling our soybeans at $12.00 to $13.00 dollars a bushel. We’re selling them at 8.50 to $9.00. That is below my cost of production. I’m losing money. I’ll lose $50,000 a year, this year. I don’t know how much longer my lender will stay with me, so it’s kind of a big deal.”

Ewoldt says many of his neighbors are also struggling, and there are real job losses in agriculture, including the nearby Quad Cities John Deere plant which is laying off workers.  He says America needs to go back to the original law as it was intended to be and stop making illegal refinery exemptions.