Ethanol

Garrett Hawkins, a Waterloo farmer, was elected president of the Illinois Corn Growers Association for 2024-2025 at its recent reorganizational meeting.

If you believe in striking while the iron is hot, you got to love Summit Carbon Solutions’ swift, decisive action on its multibillion-dollar, CO2 pipeline just weeks after Donald Trump was reelected.

The general manager of locally-owned ethanol plant was the recipient of the Illinois Corn Growers Association’s Ethanol Award.

A warm, dry fall gave the Rahn family the opportunity to finish harvest early and rain showers over the past several weeks improved the conditions for fall work.

Any change in political party leadership from the top down draws questions of how it will impact agriculture.

Voters chose to send Donald Trump, who served his first term as U.S. president from 2016 to 2020, back to the White House in the Nov. 5 national election.

A groundbreaking technology has been developed that could boost domestic corn demand by over a billion bushels.

National Corn Growers Association President Kenneth Hartman Jr. told officials farmers are living through difficult economic times, but they can help by removing barriers so growers can access expanding markets for corn.

Corn harvest started on the Rahn farm at the middle of September, which is typical for them.

When you set a record ag trade deficit for the third consecutive year, the decline isn’t an aberration or a coincidence. It is growing proof that your national ag policy is headed in the wrong direction.

Indiana Corn Marketing Council participated in a groundbreaking ceremony at Wally’s Travel Center in Whitestown, which will sell Unleaded 88, a 15% blend of ethanol.

What is the condition of your corn and soybean crops and what are your thoughts about the grain markets as we start down the homestretch of the growing season and begin to prepare for harvest?

As soon as the large mahogany door in the congressional building was opened, the farmers were greeted with hellos and handshakes. “Do you want some Indiana popcorn?” the staff in Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Pence’s office proudly asked.

As he walked to the stage to collect the Corn Advocate of the Year award, Tim Thompson looked genuinely shocked. His mouth fell open, and his eyes widened.

Along with solid sales of U.S. corn and distillers grains, ethanol exports are on pace to break an all-time record.

Some day, the passenger jets that soar 35,000 feet over Dan McLean’s North Dakota farm could be fueled by corn grown on his land and millions of other acres across the Midwest.

The Illinois Corn Growers Association joined 12 other state corn organizations to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for its inequitable and costly electrification of America’s vehicle fleet.

In the southwest toe of Indiana, 25 miles north of the Ohio River and 12 miles east of the Wabash, the Seib family farm continues its legacy.

With multiple corporations targeting Illinois for underground carbon storage and the pipelines that go along with it, the General Assembly passed the Safety and Aid for the Environment in Carbon Capture and Sequestration Act.

Steve McNally dug into the soil to reveal a freshly planted corn seed. “Soil conditions are real good. I plant about two inches deep and there’s very nice moisture down there,” he said.

The Biden administration’s trade agenda — mostly forgotten after three years of COVID, inflation, war in Ukraine, brutality in the Middle East and a cantankerous Congress — recently surfaced and, wow, is it a mess.

The slowest dance on Capitol Hill, the writing of a new farm bill, gained tempo May 1 when both the House and Senate Ag committees released versions of their bills.

Slightly bullish corn numbers and somewhat bearish soybean data were featured in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s supply and demand estimates report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided a first look at the new crop balance sheets in its domestic and global supply and demand estimates report.

The farm-to-port export chain from Illinois to Oregon and beyond was the focus of a recent tour for 12 South Koreans hosted by Kansas State University’s International Grains Program.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency waiver to allow fuel made with 15% plant-based bioethanol to be sold during the summer.

Boilermaker Anthony Gregory recently attended the High Performance Low Carbon Liquid Fuels Summit. Gregory, who works as renewable ventures chief operating officer at Southwest Airlines, discussed sustainable aviation fuel.

The annual High Performance Low Carbon Liquid Fuels Summit was held at Andretti Global headquarters. Stakeholders learned about the environmental benefits, economic potential and value of corn-based ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel.

The Department of Treasury released guidance on its sustainable aviation fuel credit program that allows corn and soybeans to qualify as feedstocks for SAF with stipulations.

The announcement of guidance on eligibility for the sustainable aviation fuel tax credit was met with both concern and optimism.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent trade mission to India was a success, including more than 500 business-to-business meetings between U.S. exporters and Indian businesses.

Federal policymakers have a problem: Their hope to make corn and soybeans the feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel hit a wall when the aviation industry ruled biofuel from either crop did not meet its “sustainable” guidelines.

The easiest way to win any game is to rig the rules. That’s what Big Ag and its loyal boosters at the U.S. Department of Agriculture appear to be doing to make sure their new project, sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, flies.

Marquis and United Cooperative announced the sale of Marquis’ ethanol facility in Necedah in south-central Wisconsin to United Cooperative.

Corn growers are positioned to meet the needs of the sustainable aviation fuel industry, but hurdles remain.

If the third time is a charm, Michael Happ might finally make an impression on federal lawmakers and administrators with his fact-filled, 24-page report on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s continued financing of Big Ag’s big manure habit.

There’s not a day that goes by, when farmers aren’t thinking about how to leave the land better than we found it.

Snowfall and rain showers during the past month have improved the soil moisture conditions for Rahn family farm in northern Illinois.

A coalition of business, labor and agriculture groups have united behind legislation that would provide a regulatory framework to advance carbon capture and storage projects in Illinois.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will soon meet with farm officials from key trading partners Canada and Mexico.

To make sure farmers’ voices are heard and their ideas are understood, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan announced the creation of an Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The summertime ban on gasoline blended with 15% ethanol has been lifted in eight Midwest states, effective in April 2025.

A trio of farmers tackled issues ranging from soil management to grain marketing during a panel discussion at the Illinois Soybean Association’s Soybean Summit.

Traders’ expectations of an increase in corn for ethanol didn’t reach fruition, and ending stocks across the board were higher in the agricultural supply and demand estimates report.

Farmer leaders and staff with the Indiana Corn Growers Association and the Indiana Soybean Alliance discussed hot topics with state lawmakers at the annual Bacon Bar and Brunch legislative breakfast.

The prices for corn and soybeans have been grinding downward since the summer of 2022.

More supply, less demand, where do we go from here? Larger supplies of corn and soybeans and less demand will bring hard questions — and harder decisions — for farmers in 2024, according to a former Iowa State University Extension economist.

Traders expected slight reductions in the size of the U.S. corn crop and no changes in the nation’s average soybean yield when the crop production annual report came out — but the opposite happened.

U.S. farmers produced a decent corn crop in 2023 that has led to a substantial increase in supplies compared to last year.

Leaders from the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance traveled to Panama to see how checkoff dollars are being used to boost markets in Central America.