April 30, 2024
Trade Associations Ask EPA to Meet Important November Deadline for E15
Trade associations representing feedstock providers, advanced biofuel producers, and low-carbon fuel customers want EPA to propose and finalize robust 2026 Renewable Fuel Standard volumes by November’s deadline. The groups’ letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan highlights the dramatic drop in the value of RFS compliance credits because of EPA’s unreasonably low 2023-2025 volumes. According to the association’s letter, the situation prompted several production facilities to close and now threatens investments in feedstock processing capacity as well as the production of sustainable aviation fuel. “We recognize that sustainable biofuels offer some of the most substantial immediate benefits to deliver carbon reductions,” the letter says. “While we continue to make investments in producing, distributing, and using low-carbon fuels, EPA can and should send a strong signal to the market through a robust RVO.” Groups signing on to the letter include Clean Fuels Alliance, the American Soybean Association, and many others.
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Strong Farmland Demand Remains
The agricultural economy has faced some challenges during the past year, with increased interest rates and decreased commodity prices. However, farmers are the eternal optimists. Farmers National Company reports that overall farmland demand remains extraordinarily strong and land values are holding steady in most areas. Troy Swee, Assistant Vice President of Farmers National, says even in the slight downward turn in the ag sector, the company continues to get phone calls and emails from farmers and investors looking to expand their landholdings. “High-quality land continues to sell at a level comparable to the spring of 2023,” he says. “However, lower quality farms and farms with a few blemishes on them have seen a seven to 15 percent reduction in price.” He also predicts that land values will continue holding steady for the first half of 2024, even after getting into early summer, when the sales volume typically begins to shrink.
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Global Fertilizer Growth Expected Despite Challenges
Operating costs keep getting higher while commodity prices fall at the same time. Rabobank says this combination has led to a squeeze on farmers’ operating margins, which are now below the average of the past two years, making farmers more cautious about investing in their farms. “Despite these headwinds, the fertilizer sector is showing resilience,” says Bruno Fonseca, senior analyst of farm inputs at Rabobank. “Geopolitical factors, among other issues, could present further obstacles, yet growth in fertilizer use is anticipated to persist.” There are certain fertilizers vulnerable to a decline in demand. Nitrogen fertilizer prices are on a downward trajectory, influenced by diminished demand and falling natural gas prices. The phosphate market experienced a price surge early in 2024 when China shifted its focus to domestic needs, curtailing global exports. Potash is witnessing a robust supply due to increased exports from Belarus and Russia, leading to lower prices.
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Milk Checkoff Drives Consumption in Cincinnati
A checkoff-led pilot in Cincinnati schools that offered lactose-free chocolate milk increased consumption and reached students who weren’t drinking milk because of real or perceived lactose intolerance. The National Dairy Council and American Dairy Association Mideast worked with Cincinnati Public Schools to offer the country’s first single-serve lactose-free chocolate milk package to six elementary and four high schools in the fourth quarter of 2023. Because of the program’s success, it was expanded to include all 15 CPS high schools through June of this year. Key findings of the pilot were that when students have the option to choose lactose-free milk, both milk selection and meal participation increase overall. When compared to the rest of the district, the pilot schools experienced a 16-percent increase in milk consumption and a seven percent higher meal participation. Tracy Enslen of ADA Mideast says the pilot proved meeting unmet demand with innovative offerings can drive consumption.
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Stakeholders for the SAF Coalition
Forty companies and organizations that hold a stake in the development and deployment of sustainable aviation fuel united to form the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Coalition. The organization is made up of airlines and aircraft operators, agricultural enterprises, aircraft and aircraft equipment manufacturers, airports, technology developers, labor unions, and biofuel producers. The goal of the new nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition is to rapidly scale investment in the SAF sector and advocate for the incentives and policies necessary to promote U.S. economic competitiveness in the emerging SAF marketplace. While SAF Coalition members have been working together informally for years, this newly formed organization will leverage the collective strength of the entire SAF value chain to accelerate the development and deployment of sustainable aviation fuels in the U.S. “The membership of this coalition shows the deep support that the SAF enjoys across aviation’s many stakeholders,” says Alison Graab, the Executive Director for the Coalition.
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Lawmakers Want Support for American West Amid Drought
Senators and representatives from Western states called on the Biden administration to make further investments to address long-term drought. “Drought remains a severe risk for American farmers and ranchers and threatens farmland and local economies that rely on dwindling water resources, especially in states West of the 100th Meridian,” the letter says. “We’re asking the administration to bring all resources to bear in helping address the long-term drought and aridification of the Western United States.” The lawmakers applauded the ongoing efforts by the administration to support the American West as it faces a 1,200-year-level drought, including through the Western Water and Working Lands Framework and by opening up Inflation Reduction Act funding. “Investments to comprehensively address the short-term drought recovery and future resilience in the American West must include both smaller-scale on-farm measures and larger-scale upstream watershed restoration and improvements,” the letter adds. “Reliable water is critical to any rural community.”
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