USDA Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen Vaden filled in for his boss at the 2025 Farm Progress Show Tuesday, chatting on the mainstage with Mike Pearson of This Week in AgriBusiness and answering question from farm reporters on site. The first topic addressed was New World Screwworm in light of the latest headlines about human case in Maryland. “So the …
ZimmComm Recognized for Ethanol Reporting
ZimmComm was honored to receive the media award from the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) last week for our “decades of dedicated reporting on the people, policies, and progress shaping the U.S. ethanol industry.” This means a lot to us because the ethanol industry was instrumental in our company’s success and we have been able to cover the most consequential …
Ethanol Report on the RFS at Twenty
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was signed by President George W. Bush on August 8 of that year at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico – symbolizing a new approach to energy economics and security, diversifying our transportation fuel supply by incentivizing ethanol and biodiesel by initiating the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This month marks the 20th anniversary …
Ag Groups React to Big Beautiful Bill Passage
House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) says the One Big Beautiful Bill passed by Congress Thursday is a “game-changer for America.” “The One Big Beautiful Bill is a victory for rural America, making the largest investment in agriculture in decades, restoring integrity to SNAP, and saving millions of family farms from the death tax. This bill gives …
USTR Greer Questioned on Agricultural Tariffs
The Senate Finance Committee grilled U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer during a hearing Tuesday on the administrations trade policy, including how agriculture may be impacted. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) questioned Greer about the impact of, and goals for, tariff usage. “My question to you is, in the medium to the long term, do you plan to turn these tariffs …
ZimmCast 741 – Clean Fuels in 2025
Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. While Cindy was home during the major snow storm in Florida I was attending the Clean Fuels Conference in San Diego, CA. The weather was delightful for the conference. However, in the Pensacola, FL area there was eight to ten inches of snow, something that hasn’t happened in over 150 years! But it has …
Clean Fuels Chair Confident Moving Forward
Kent Engelbrecht serves as director of North American Biodiesel Trade Policy for ADM, one of the world’s leading biodiesel producers, oilseed crushers, and suppliers of soy and canola feedstocks for the renewable liquid fuels industry. Engelbrecht is also Chairman of the Clean Fuels America Alliance, and he is Chairman of the California Advanced Biofuels Alliance (CABA), as well as Advanced …
Clean Fuels Celebrates Conference in Important Market
The 2025 Clean Fuels Conference is being held this week in a very important market for biodiesel, renewable diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel – California. “Biodiesel and renewable diesel have displaced 75% of all diesel sold in the state,” said Clean Fuels CEO Donnell Rehagen in his opening remarks Tuesday. “It’s now harder to find diesel fuel in California than …
Conference Highlights Biodiesel, Renewable Diesel and SAF
The 2025 Clean Fuels Conference is underway in San Diego bringing together industry leaders in the biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel markets with the theme “Accelerate.” Clean Fuels Alliance America CEO Donnell Rehagen says the meeting theme refers to the rapid growth and transformative progress of the biodiesel, renewable diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel industries. “We’re now a …
Sec. Vilsack Bids Farewell with Climate-Smart Agriculture Rule
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack held his last official press conference of his tenure at USDA on Wednesday, announcing the publication of an interim rule on Technical Guidelines for Climate-Smart Agriculture Crops Used as Biofuel Feedstocks. The interim rule establishes guidelines for quantifying, reporting, and verifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the production of biofuel feedstock commodity crops …