Biodiesel a win-win
Wisconsin Agriculturist

The state’s first soy biodiesel plant in Evansville is good news for Wisconsin soybean rowers,
dairy and livestock producers, and consumers alike, says Keith Ripp of Lodi, president of the Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board.

“Establishing local, value-added soybean-processing facilities has been a primary goal of the Wisconsin soybean programs for the last few years, and the soy biodiesel plant in Evansville is a great fi rst step toward that goal,” says Ripp. “With the demand this plant will create for soybean oil, the logical next step is a soybean-processing facility in the state, and we will continue working on that.”

The news about the soy biodiesel plant comes at a good time for Wisconsin soybean growers. Last year, the state produced a record 69.5 million bushels of beans, ranking it 13th in soybean production in the nation.

The top 10 soybean-producing counties in the state are, in order: Dane, Rock, Dodge, Lafayette, Grant, Jefferson, Columbia, Green, Outagamie and Fond du Lac. They combined to produce 41% of Wisconsin’s soybean crop. Wisconsin hasn’t always been such a large soybean-growing state. Since 1990, production has more than tripled from 17.6 million bushels.

“There’s a couple primary reasons soybeans became so popular in the past 15 years,” says Mike Rankin, Fond du Lac County Extension crops and soils agent. “The main reason is the loss in the number of dairy farms since 1990. A lot of those acres switched to some
type of cash-grain production, including soybeans.”

The other reason is the state shifted from growing a lot of oats for grain in 1990 to growing more soybeans. “There aren’t many farmers growing oats as a cash crop anymore,” Rankin says. According to the Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service, oat production in Wisconsin totaled 47.5 million bushels in 1990. Today, it has declined to 15.4 million bushels, or about a third of the bushels produced 16 years ago. The number of acres planted for canning crops also has shifted, Rankin notes. In 1990, sweet corn was produced on 141,000 acres compared with 78,600 acres in 2004. “Sweet-corn production basically dropped in half,” he says.

Having a soybean-processing facility in the state would be a big bonus for soybean growers, Ripp says, “because we wouldn’t have to truck our soybeans out of state. It’s also good for dairy and livestock producers, because soybean meal should be a little cheaper since it won’t have to be hauled as far.”

Soybean production is somewhat new to Wisconsin; therefore, no soybean-processing plants are located in the state, except for a very small plant at Valders that roasts beans and a few other facilities where beans are extruded. Virtually all of the soybeans grown in Wisconsin are transported out of state to be processed and then hauled back in as soybean meal and soy
biodiesel.

“Rising transportation costs are probably the driving force behind establishing a crush facility in Wisconsin,” Ripp says. “Being able to process our soybeans here should lower the price
of soybean meal, which is a large component of dairy and livestock rations on many farms across the state.”

Do Wisconsin farmers grow enough soybeans to meet demand for a soy biodiesel plant? According to Ripp, who grows corn, soybeans and wheat, and custom raises 300 dairy heifers on his farm near Lodi, Wisconsin’s total soybean production is suffi cient to produce enough oil for 86 million gallons of biodiesel fuel every year. A soybean crush plant would use 38% of the annual soybean crop grown in the state.

“However, if there were a crush plant in Wisconsin, I believe it would encourage more soybean production since beans would not have to be shipped as far as they are today to fi nd a market,” Ripp says.

“This facility also is great news for state residents,” Ripp explains. “Biobased diesel fuel is used in everything from school and city buses to farm tractors, semi trucks and even boats. Along with its value-added benefi ts for growers, biodiesel helps reduce toxic emissions and air pollution. Biodiesel is good for human health, the environment and the state’s economy. It also helps commercial-fleet operators comply with state and federal clean-air requirements.”

The domestic biodiesel industry is expanding rapidly. Nationally, production has grown from 2 million gallons in 2000 to this year’s projection of more than 150 million gallons.

The American Trucking Association board of directors recently unanimously endorsed an energy resolution that includes promoting low blends of biodiesel as part of the organization’s
efforts to help shape a strong national energy plan.

Ripp says he would like to see the state’s fi rst soybean crush facility be farmer-owned.

“The crush facility would be a great opportunity for farmers to invest in,” Ripp says. “It would create a win-win situation for everybody.”