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Today Congress ratified the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) allowing for free trade with our neighboring countries to the north and the south. The bill, which passed with broad support, will now go to President Trump’s desk for his signature. Mexico and Canada are the U.S. corn industry’s largest, most reliable market. In 2018/2019, 21.4 million metric tons of corn and corn co-products were exported to Mexico and Canada. These exports were valued at $4.56 billion. In 2018/2019, Mexico was the top export for U.S. corn and DDGS while Canada was the top export of U.S. ethanol.

This October Iowa drivers raised over $20,000 for breast cancer research and support services simply by choosing cleaner-burning Unleaded 88 during the 4^th annual Pink at the Pump® campaign, co-sponsored by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) and Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB).

The abuse of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) continues as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released today the final 2020 Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) that does not reflect the deal President Trump agreed to on October 4, 2019.  The finalized rule incorporates the Wheeler plan that merely estimates future small refinery waivers based on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recommendations. ICGA supports a simple, mathematical solution by averaging the past three years of actual waivers granted, then adding those gallons back into the RFS. ICGA’s supported resolution would have created market certainty, so as not to rely on the EPA or DOE Administrators for their annual decisions.

In continued efforts to correct the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) twisted proposed rule that goes against President Trump’s agreement, Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) President Jim Greif spoke at a news conference along with the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).  The attack of Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs) has eliminated 4.04 billion gallons of biofuels from the RFS program over the last three years. This equates to nearly 1.5 billion bushels of corn. The EPA’s supplemental proposed rule would base any reallocation of waived gallons through the SRE program on the Department of Energy (DOE) recommendations which the EPA has historically not followed. The result of the EPA’s proposal will continue to undercut the RFS when waivers are granted removing market access for cleaner-burning renewable fuels. In efforts to not let this proposed rule get finalized, ICGA has launched a campaign sharing farmer’s stories to ask President Trump to follow through on his promise to support the RFS.

Iowa agricultural and biofuels groups are encouraging Iowa farmers and consumers to make their voices heard by submitting comments on EPA’s recently proposed rule that was supposed to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) from refinery exemptions.

Today, Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) President Jim Greif testified at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) hearing on the supplemental proposal to the 2020 Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) rulemaking in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) hosted the first Global Ethanol Summit in Washington D.C. Industry and government officials from 60 countries assembled to learn about advancements in biofuels policies in countries around the world and prospects for expanded global ethanol use. After the Summit, Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) worked with USGC to host a multi-country ethanol-focused trade team in Iowa to see the full production and value chain of corn-based ethanol.

Today ag and biofuel groups thanked Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds for standing up for them and defending the future of the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Last night, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds told Brownfield Ag News radio: “I’m going to hold the President to what he said and I’m going to hold the EPA accountable to follow through with what the deal actually was.” Talking specifically of the EPA proposal to use the DOE recommendations, Reynolds noted: “I understand completely the industry’s concerns and the hesitation about going with what [EPA proposed]. That’s not the language that we agreed to when we were in the office. And so we’re going to continue to try to go back to that and try to put that into the 30-day comment because we were pretty specific in the language that we asked for.” Reynolds concluded: “I’m going to continue to fight hard on behalf of our Iowa farmers and producers and a renewable fuel industry that I believe has a role to play.”

Statement from ICGA President Jim Greif Today, we are outraged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not implement the details that were presented and outlined by the President only eleven days ago. Any proposal that does not account for actual waived gallons under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) fails to...

Statement from ICGA President Jim Greif Iowa corn farmers received positive news today for momentum in the right direction to uphold the integrity of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) thanks President Trump for his commitment to address the demand destruction of corn ethanol brought...