credit, Jeff Broin, Executive Chairman and CEO of POET, Vital magazine, Fall 2019
To say this year has been difficult for rural America would be an understatement. From low prices to trade disputes to unpredictable weather patterns, farmers have faced one of the toughest growing seasons in recent history.
And the biofuels industry has been battling challenges hand-in-hand with agriculture. The excitement surrounding the approval of year-round E15 was swiftly met with 31 new small refinery exemptions from the EPA, the sum of which have slashed demand for 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel and 1.4 billion bushels of corn since 2016. That in turn has resulted in dozens of biorefinery shutdowns and closures across the Heartland and left many rural communities reeling.
…..The ag sector needs to move away from its one-track “food, food, food” mentality and shift its focus to the farming trifecta: food, fuel and fiber.