News

SDCGA says biofuels package a step in right direction

The executive director of South Dakota Corn Growers Association says a report saying President Trump’s biofuels package will call for 16-Billion gallons of biofuels in the RFS would be a step in the right direction.

“We have never, ever, ever had a rule over 15-Billion gallons,” says Lisa Richardson. But, tells Brownfield Ag News it’s not something to get excited about just yet. She says there is no way to determine how that might play out for corn farmers and the 4-Billion gallons lost from small refinery waivers.

“How large are the refiners? Are they going to do 2-Billion the following year? Are they going to average that 4-Billion out? How is that going to be done? You know, those are the questions we don’t have the answers to,” Richardson says.

South Dakota Corn Growers vice president Scott Stahl says it all comes back to market access, “It comes down to being less talk and more action. We want to see the rubber hit the road. Obviously, the reallocation piece would be huge. Those are lost gallons and those are lost bushels that should have been used in the corn grind across this nation.”

The policy change, which has to go through the rule making process, proposes lost gallons from future waivers would be made up.

Richardson points out that the NCGA, RFA and ACE are still in litigation over lost demand from waivers granted by the Trump EPA.

Richarson and Stahl both say the biofuels package is “a step in the right direction.”