Soybean producers press Trump to speed b​iofuel certainty

Having lost their biggest export market in China to Donald Trump’s trade wars, U.S. farmers are now counting on the president’s support for the biofuels industry to keep next-crop inventories from growing, Bloomberg reports.

The U.S. administration is set to unveil a plan soon for how much crop-based biofuels will be blended with fossil fuels starting next year. A higher mandate, which some in the oil industry still oppose, would create a much-needed market for crops after U.S. tariffs hit China. The top commodity buyer has no orders for next-crop U.S. corn, soybeans or wheat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“If we don’t do this, we’re going to have a surplus of beans,” said Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer who is also president of the American Soybean Association, of the upcoming biofuels mandate.

Trump launched a $28 billion bailout for farmers hurt by the economic standoff with Beijing during his first term. While his administration is considering similar plans again, so far he has only promised to find domestic markets to make up for lost overseas sales and has not outlined how to address the problem.

Boosting domestic demand is a key priority for producers, industry groups and some leading agricultural traders. That’s because overseas sales of next-crop soybeans are currently 79% below the five-year average, USDA data show. Corn sales are 49% below.

The U.S. farm economy is already struggling. A bumper soybean crop worldwide has boosted supplies and sent the grain price index down more than 40% from its 2022 peak. And the U.S. cattle herd is already at its lowest level since the 1950s, limiting demand for the grain in feed rations.

Agribusiness giants ADM, Bunge Global and Cargill Inc, as well as trade groups including Clean Fuels Alliance America, want the Environmental Protection Agency to set the RVO at at least 5.25 billion gallons for biomass diesel starting next year, a 60% increase from 2025 levels.

So far, U.S. biodiesel plants have been running at just 51% of their capacity in the year through April, while capacity for renewable diesel — a fuel chemically identical to its fossil-fuel counterpart — has been running at 72%.

Earlier, companies around the world have continued to cut investment in biofuels projects, as well as curtailing research programs and laying off staff.

Tags: soybean