President Donald Trump will speak in America’s top corn-producing state today as growers plead for support of year-round E15 to drive market demand amid a challenging farm economy.

A measure to authorize year-round E15 was left out of a government funding package last week, leading to uncertainty around corn demand and the higher ethanol blend fuel.

“Without permanent access to this market [year-round E15], the long-term viability of our state’s largest economic driver is at serious risk,” Iowa Corn Growers Association vice president Steve Kuiper and Iowa Renewable Fuel Association executive director Monte Shaw wrote in a letter to Trump ahead of the visit. “Today, we are asking for your help to finally push E15 access through Congress.”

What’s on tap: Trump is set to tour a local business and make remarks focused on affordability and the economy, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. He also could make a stop at the Urbandale Machine Shed restaurant and hold a meeting with ag producers, according to sources familiar with the planning.

The groups also bought a full-page ad in the Des Moines Register today which reads “in Iowa, the intersection of economy and energy occurs at a place called E15,” as well as “farmers need markets, not bailouts.”

“We are at a breaking point,” Kuiper and Shaw write. “Without immediate policy intervention to create new demand, we are looking at an avoidable decline in Iowa’s rural economy.”

What we’re watching: Trump did not weigh in on year-round E15 during government funding negotiations last week, but any comment today could be critical momentum for the provision. The future of E15 was deferred to a newly created Rural Domestic Energy Council which will submit a legislative proposal to be considered by Congress by Feb. 25.

Iowa lawmakers, who advocated for the provision, say the higher ethanol blend fuel would support the president’s domestic energy and affordability agenda by driving down gas prices.

In addition: The derailment of the corn-based ethanol industry’s top legislative goal poses a new challenge for Republicans up for re-election in tough districts this year. Two such cases are in Iowa. Republican Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks are both in races against Democrats that are too close to predict, according to the non-partisan Cook Political Report.  

White House finishes 45Z review

The White House budget office has completed its review of proposed Treasury Department rules around the clean fuel production tax credit known as 45Z. The biofuel sector and related industries want the Trump administration to weigh in on the incentive that was revamped by Congress and signed into law by the president last July.
 
 Soybean producers are among groups happy with a change that restricts the credit only for fuels made with North American feedstocks like soybean and canola oil, but there are still questions on how details of 45Z will work. Another major outstanding issue is EPA’s proposed biofuel-blending targets for 2026, known as renewable volume obligations, or RVOs.

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Clean Fuels Alliance America, which represents the bio-based diesel and sustainable aviation fuel industries, wants Trump to move fast in issuing both 45Z rules and final RVOs. A big question on RVOs is if EPA will maintain a plan aimed at disincentivizing foreign biofuel feedstock. 

EU Parliament punts on US agreement as bloc secures India deal

EU lawmakers came out of a meeting Monday without a clear path forward on how to proceed with ratifying the U.S.-European Union trade deal secured last year.

Bernd Lange, who chairs the parliament’s international trade committee, said that “no decision” was reached on the legislative procedure. He said lawmakers will revisit the issue on Feb. 4.  

European policymakers and the parliament’s leadership have said they want to approve the deal after Trump walked back his threats to hike tariffs on European countries last week.

But some lawmakers, including Lange, have said the parliament should wait until more details are available on the Greenland deal.

Meanwhile, the bloc is pushing ahead with other trade negotiations. The EU said Monday that it had wrapped talks on an EU-India deal, which officials are calling the “mother of all deals.”    

European-Union-2.jpegFlags of the European Union (Photo by Jake Zajkowski)

ITC to revisit antidumping duty on Mexican tomatoes 

The International Trade Commission will investigate whether an antidumping duty on Mexican tomatoes is still needed to protect U.S. producers.

In 2019, the ITC and Commerce Department found evidence that U.S. growers were being hurt by Mexican tomato imports priced below market value. But tariffs weren’t initially adopted, as both countries agreed to suspend the duties.

The Trump administration pulled out of that deal last year, resulting in tariffs on imports of Mexican tomatoes.

At the request of two Mexican producers and a U.S. wholesaler, the ITC will now revisit the original antidumping order to see if its removal would hurt U.S. growers, according to a Federal Register notice.

Fertilizer, ethanol giants team up on low-carbon pilot  

A top manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products and the world’s biggest producer of corn-based ethanol are teaming up on a pilot project to develop a low-carbon fertilizer supply chain.  

The plan involves CF Industries Holdings and POET working with big agriculture co-ops in a bid to show that lower emitting nitrogen fertilizer can shrink corn’s carbon dioxide footprint and pave the way for lower-carbon U.S. ethanol for motor fuel and export.

The pilot includes WinField United, the crop inputs and insights business of Land O’Lakes, along with ag cooperatives NuWay-K&H, New Cooperative, and Farmers Cooperative, CF Industries says. 

Participants will track the carbon intensity certification of the low-carbon fertilizer produced by CF and sold from its distribution network through retail channels and ultimately to corn growers across Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska. POET’s facilities will then use the corn in Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska for producing ethanol.  

Final Word

“Finalizing the RVO proposal with robust volumes and reallocation will have a near immediate, positive impact on domestic production and demand for domestic feedstocks, improving the bottom line for America’s soybean and canola farmers.” Kurt Kovarik, vice president of federal affairs for Clean Fuels, in a letter to Trump expressing hope that proposed 45Z rules would be publicized this week.  

Kim Chipman, Steve Davies, Lydia Johnson, and Oliver Ward contributed to today’s Daybreak.