News

Marketing advisor concerned about new soybean crush plants

A marketing advisor has concerns about the future of new and expanded soybean crushing facilities.  John Heinberg with Total Farm Marketing tells Brownfield demand for soybean oil to make renewable biodiesel has struggled. “Right now, the picture is very cloudy in terms of the biofuels side. You know first off, the Biden administration really kind of drug it’s feet getting out that 45Z plan. They basically waited until what, five days, ten days before inauguration?”

Heinberg says the 45Z guidelines earlier this month did help fire up the soybean oil and soybean market a little.  However, there are now questions about how President Trump’s executive order to freeze some Biden-era policies could impact the market moving forward. “Basically, it puts 45Z back on the back burner, and that’s something this market was really counting on, especially for that domestic crush side, so we continue to see that talk of just plans being kind of idle, and some of these plants not getting built to the level that we need.”

Heinberg says it will be difficult to expand soybean crushing capacity until the industry gets some direction from the Trump administration.