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Biofuels bring soybean sustainability

Many soybean farmers see biofuels as a major key to their sustainability.                   

Illinois farmer Brady Holst, who also serves as a director with the Illinois Soybean Association, says demand from the biofuels industry has been a bright spot in the down ag economy.

“The biofuel industry has been expanding so much, the crush has been so important to the soybeans lately.”  He says, “The biofuels are really what everybody’s looking at to kind of take in the slack and start pushing those prices higher.”

Steve Reinhard, who farms in Ohio and serves on the United Soybean Board, agrees, and tells Brownfield that demand is driving soybean production.

“Biofuels have really pushed our soybean producers to really accept new technologies.”  He says, “With those technologies, we’ve been able to produce more soybeans, and I think we had about a 32% increase in soybean yield since the year 2002.”

Reinhard says he’s even incorporating a new cover crop into his soybean system this winter strictly for biofuels purposes.

“Cover cress that we can produce for fuel, and we’ll also get a meal component out of it for livestock industry as well,” he says.

Brownfield spoke with both at the 2025 Clean Fuels Conference in San Diego.

AUDIO: Steve Reinhard – Ohio farmer

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