WILCOX, NEB – October 24, 2025 –ACGF Officers Mark Lounsbery, Vice Chairman; Dennis Mitchell, Secretary-Treasurer and Policy Director Dan McGuire sadly report the loss of ACGF Chairman Gale Lush who passed away on September 13, 2025. It has been a distinct honor to have been Gale’s friend and colleague all these years and to have worked with a national farm policy leader and man of Gale’s high caliber and integrity.

30% Ethanol Blend Essential by Dan McGuire

The administration’s tariff-driven trade war has handed the massive $12 billion U.S. China soybean export market to South America. On Oct. 15, multiple news services reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent plans to bail out Argentina to the tune of $40 billion. Taken together with their tariffs, the administration is financing U.S. export competition.

It’s not just a one-year problem for U.S. farmers. China is investing in South American corn and soybean production and marketing export infrastructure for the long term.

U.S. farmers have spent millions of dollars of commodity check-off funds for many years, combined with federal tax dollars, to develop foreign export markets, including China. Negative political U.S. trade policy undermines that investment.

Export intervention always works against the farm economy. One news report also said Iowa U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley told reporters that the U.S. and Trump should have used soybeans as leverage before offering Argentina the bailout.

The Sept. 12 USDA-WASDE report projects average farm-level 2025-26 soybean prices at only $10/bushel, $2.40/bushel below the average 2024 price. The same report projects corn prices at only $3.90, down from $4.55 in 2024. And 2026 farm-level wheat prices are projected at only $5.10, down from nearly $7/bushel in 2024.

As a result, the farm/rural economy is under severe stress. A government bailout is being discussed. Farmers prefer foreign/domestic markets over bailouts. There is enough history in the books now to confirm that while foreign markets are essential, those important exports are vulnerable to politically driven U.S. trade intervention.

This reality requires immediate, aggressive, updated ethanol and biodiesel federal policy to quickly utilize much larger quantities of corn and soybeans right here in the domestic U.S. market. It’s essential!

Members of Congress have introduced legislation authorizing 15% ethanol blends nationwide and year-round. That’s a good first step, but it comes late in the game.

Congress should amend the 15% ethanol blend bill, authorizing a 30% nationwide ethanol blend immediately. The Oct. 16 edition of The Independent ran a spot-on column, “Fueling our way out of a surplus of corn a here-and-now solution” by the executive director of the Nebraska Ethanol Board. That column and its information make an ironclad case for E-30 ethanol blends. Congress needs to act on it.

Dan McGuire, policy director,
American Corn Growers Foundation
Lincoln