ALTOONA, Iowa — Kelly Nieuwenhuis, a third-generation family farmer in northwest Iowa, said he’s been fighting daily to increase and grow the biofuels industry in the state, and it’s the No. 1 topic he’s considering when he goes to caucus on Jan. 15.
“It’s absolutely the most important thing that ever happened in my farming career, the biofuels industry. I started investing in it in 1999 because I wanted a market for the corn I produced, and it’s been a great market for us,” Nieuwenhuis said in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
Nieuwenhuis has been working to educate presidential candidates about the importance of the industry and has given many of them tours of ethanol plants in the state. The Renewable Fuel Standard Program requires oil companies to blend corn-based ethanol into their gasoline or buy credits from those that do. Iowa is the leading U.S. producer of ethanol thanks to millions of acres of cornfields.
The corn and soybean farmer said that after spending time with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, he decided he would be caucusing for her.
“I had that personal interaction with her. She understands just how important this is, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll be supporting Nikki Haley,” he said.
Nieuwenhuis, who was president of the board of an ethanol plant during the Trump administration, voted for the former president in 2016 and 2020 but said he could not do so again after his Environmental Protection Agency exempted dozens of oil refineries from requirements to use biofuels. The decision ultimately reduced demand for corn-based ethanol.
“The small refinery exemptions that his EPA granted were very harmful to our industry,” Nieuwenhuis explained. “I had to testify in front of the Energy and Commerce Committee and explain the damage that was being done through that.”
Lance Lillibridge owns a farm in Benton County, where he grows corn, soybeans, and alfalfa. Like Nieuwenhuis, Lillibridge also supporte Trump previously but said he is not willing to risk his livelihood on trade conflict and the potential for more biofuel exemptions.
“I don’t think anybody trusts Trump when it comes to our industry. He said he’s favorable to farmers and loves the farmers, but I really don’t think he does,” Lillibridge said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved $28 billion in payments to American farmers at the beginning of 2020 to offset the negative effects of the U.S.-China trade war. But some farmers, like Lillibridge, said they didn’t want a payment from the federal government to stay afloat.
“He uses his $28 billion of the American taxpayers’ money that he gave us to keep us from being bankrupt because of his debacle in the biofuels industry and trade, and then tells everybody how much he loves farmers,” Lillibridge said. “It really, quite frankly, pisses us off when you have a government that yanks the rug out from underneath us with our trading partners.”
“A lot of those trading lanes have been destroyed, and I’m not sure we will ever get them back,” he added.
Lillibridge said he will be caucusing for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) after meeting with him on the importance of biofuels. He worked with his campaign to set up a tour of an ethanol plant in Jewel, Iowa, and set up meetings for the governor to speak with other farmers across the state.
“He came out with a position on where he was at with biofuels then, and it lined right up with Gov. Kim Reynolds, and it’s like, this is the guy we need. He checks all the boxes,” he said.
Biofuels Vision 2024 tracked where the candidates stand on critical biofuels-related topics. The group went to several hundred events throughout the cycle to ask the candidates questions. According to their chart, DeSantis and Haley have committed to supporting a growing role for biofuels in their energy plans. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has voiced some opposition to preserving biofuel tax credits and has not fully committed to unlocking higher ethanol blends, according to the group. Trump, by far, had the most question marks, indicating he had not taken a stance.
“The question marks you see, President Trump has the most, just the nature of his events, they don’t really have an opportunity for Iowans unfortunately to ask him personal questions,” said Logan Shine with Biofuels Vision. “We really appreciate Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, coming forward, stepping up, and checking all eight of our boxes.”
Both DeSantis and Haley appeared at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit on Thursday in Altoona, reaffirming their support for biofuels in a last-minute push to reach Iowa farmers days before the caucuses. DeSantis expressed his support for year-round sales of E15 gas, which contains 15% ethanol and is typically banned from being sold in most of the country during the warmer months due to concerns about smog.
“Why do you have to stop doing that once you hit a perspective on the calendar?” DeSantis asked the crowd rhetorically. “I think it will be helpful for folks here in the Midwest. It also gives people more choices in terms of the fuel that they use.”
DeSantis has come under scrutiny from both Trump and Haley in recent days for previously supporting efforts to get rid of the Renewable Fuel Standard while he was in Congress.
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, took the opportunity to attack his record while addressing the group.
“DeSantis just came here and spoke to you. Did he tell you that he authored legislation to ban the Renewable Fuel Standard? Did he tell you that he co-sponsored five different bills to ban the Renewable Fuel Standard?” Haley asked the crowd.
Trump has taken repeated shots at DeSantis. “If he had his way, the entire economy of Iowa would absolutely collapse,” Trump said at a campaign stop in Council Bluffs in July.
Lillibridge said he had the opportunity to question DeSantis on his previous record, and the Florida governor explained he voted against biofuels in the past because his constituents asked him to do so.
“He was doing what his constituents asked him to do. That was like, maybe, eight to 10 years ago, so that’s a good explanation right there,” he said.
A poll from Agri-Pulse released earlier this week found 39% of the 605 farmers surveyed would vote for Trump, compared with 19% for DeSantis and 13% for Haley.
Eric Branstad, an Iowa Republican operative and advocate for Iowa’s renewable fuels industry, said renewable fuel has been a priority for Trump.
“Every time he’s been in Iowa, he basically says so,” said Branstad, who is the son of former Gov. Terry Branstad.
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This cycle looks significantly different than 2016, when then-Gov. Branstad came out against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) over his record on ethanol. In contrast, this year, current Gov. Kim Reynolds, who endorsed DeSantis, introduced the Florida governor at the conference as a “close friend” and the “first candidate to check all the boxes for Biofuels 2024.”
“We are not causing the headlines like we were in 2016. I think the issue has really grown with all the candidates, and they’ve gotten to a good spot,” Eric Branstad said.
