Farm Progress America, January 25, 2024

Mike Pearson tells listeners about the recent Renewable Fuels Summit held in Iowa earlier this month.

Iowa is the leader in corn and soybean ethanol production so the state has a big role in the industry.

Last year, 5 1/2 billion bushels of corn was made into ethanol.

And 1.2 billion bushels of soybeans were used to make biodiesel and renewable diesel.

The Renewable Fuels Summit was kicked off by U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack who talked about the $19 million in grants given for biofuels restructuring.

Vilsack was honored for his work as the Iowa governor and secretary of agriculture in biofuels and ethanol.

The next thing discussed was SAF or sustainable airplane fuel which will is a low carbon jet fuel made from ethanol. If the SAF market gains traction, it's estimated that 4 billion bushels of corn will be needed in the ethanol market to help produce it.

Another hot topic was the need for producers to engage consumers a nd help them understand the transparence in carbon transport and sequestering carbon in order to grow the markets and support for biofuels.

Farm Progress America is a daily look at key issues in agriculture. It is produced and presented by Mike Pearson, farm broadcaster and host of This Week in Agribusiness .