93
Let’s hear the story of Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry Agriculture, and the people who make it happen. Sponsored by Nebraska's Law Firm® - Rembolt Ludtke.
93
Dawn Caldwell--Renewable Fuels Nebraska
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There are currently 24 ethanol production plants in Nebraska, with a combined production capacity of nearly 2.2 BILLION gallons of ethanol each year. That’s a lot of corn used to produce this 100 percent domestic fuel source, especially in an era with an increased focus on sustainability and heightened concerns about national security. The industry has been a huge success story for agriculture and Nebraska.
In this episode we are joined by one of the industry’s leaders--Dawn Caldwell, Executive Director of Renewable Fuels Nebraska. Dawn has been a leader in virtually every aspect of Nebraska agriculture and shares her insights on the future of the renewable fuel industry and what it means for Nebraska and our country.
Nebraska, it's not just a place, but a way of life. It's 93 counties that are home to innovative individuals, caring community, and a spirit that runs deeper than its purple story. It's a story that should be told.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to 93, the podcast. Welcome to 93, the podcast, where we talk about Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the people who make it happen. I'm Mark Folson, your host for today's episode, brought to you by Nebraska's law firm, Rimbold Love Teeth. The renewable fuels industry has had a significant and a positive impact on agriculture in the state of Nebraska. There are currently 24 ethanol production plants in Nebraska with a combined production capacity of nearly 2.2 billion gallons of ethanol each year. That's a lot of corn and other grain used to produce the 100% domestic fuel source, especially in an era with an increased focus on sustainability. One of its byproducts, dried distiller grains, has become a much sought after animal feed. The industry has been a huge success story for agriculture and for Nebraska. Today we are joined by one of the industry's leaders, Don Caldwell, Executive Director of Renewable Fuels Nebraska. Don, thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00Hey, Mark, glad to be here.
SPEAKER_01So give our listeners a little background on yourself. Where do you hail from?
SPEAKER_00Originally, and I really like to call home 45 County. That's Webster. So I just think of all the great people and things they've done from Webster County. And it all started, I think, with Webster County 4-H. And that was, we were, we were all very small schools there, but we all took 4-H. Those that got a chance did FFA. And that led us all into really cool careers that took some global others of us getting to do things like what I do, for instance, working in an association. And so serving on different boards, um, giving back. I think we all like to call it giving back, us Webster County kids. And so I spent time on Nebraska Beef Council, the eight years that you can do there that led me to National Cattlemen's Beef Association and Nebraska Cattlemen. And I am a cowgirl at heart. Um my dad, my dad and mom had a dry land, and you know, some people will call it rain-fed in today's world or whatever the non-irrigated. We were absolutely non-irrigated, and we were absolutely dry land there in Webster County, Nebraska, in Knuckles County. Um diversified crops, cattle. We did have pigs for a while. Um, and then as I grew up, went off to college, got my animal science degree. Um, I spent just a little in extension, which I learned a lot from, and I appreciate that in a career path, and then went on to a livestock nutrition career with Dashlar Grain and Aurora Cooperative. And through many different things, whether it was the Beef Council and Cattlemen or AFAN, which I think is a great organization here in Nebraska, um, it it led me to really understanding that full agriculture circle that we have here in our state.
SPEAKER_01I think you've I think you've been on every part of the circle, right? Because in addition to all those organizations, there's a whole bunch more, including you currently serve on the Nebraska State Fairboard, correct?
SPEAKER_00Nebraska State Fairboard, and that's the that's the the end of that circle I was gonna tie back, which is helping to impact today's youth and give them the opportunities that I had when I was a kid.
SPEAKER_01So how did it cut how did you come to uh become the executive director of renewable fuels Nebraska?
SPEAKER_00My role at Aurora Cooperative, my final six years there, was something we created called Head of Government Affairs, a co-op of that size serving the scope of farmers and ranchers that they serve, needs to be involved at the state and national level with pertinent associations. And I served in that capacity, um paying attention to legislation and different rules and regulations that mattered. Um and when a vacancy opened in Renewable Fuels Nebraska, they called me and said, You're going to take this job. And I did just what you're doing. I laughed at them and I kindly said, No, I'm not gonna live in Lincoln and offered other suggestions. And nine months later, um, there I was. So I'm three years now into this role and enjoying it a great deal.
SPEAKER_01So Renewable Fuels Nebraska, if I'm not mistaken, you might have one Iowa member as well.
SPEAKER_00We do have one Iowa member, and we've had a couple Colorado members. When you do really great things and you accomplish a lot of good productive work for the industry, people notice and it's so cool. And they are barely into Iowa, sire, um, southwest Iowa renewable energy. They buy a lot of corn out of Nebraska.
SPEAKER_01So they do use Nebraska corn, so that's good.
SPEAKER_00100%. Well, I shouldn't say 100%. I'm sure they use some Iowa corn, which we always say is bad corn from here, right? Right. Um, but they they really appreciate what goes on here in Nebraska. And when it comes to the ethanol world, sadly, we're number two to Iowa in terms of volume produced. Um, but I like to think we're we're right up there at number one with them in terms of um uplifting the industry and standing standing up for the industry.
SPEAKER_01So what exactly is the mission and the vision of renewable fuels Nebraska?
SPEAKER_00You know, our our greatest purpose, and like any association, we have set words, but to put it really simply, we do work that betters the opportunities for the ethanol industry and the entire value chain involved in that.
SPEAKER_01I know corn is primarily what is used to make ethanol, or other grains as well. It's my understanding. There are some other grains that are used on occasion.
SPEAKER_00Occasionally, uh sorghum would be or Milo, as it's often called, would be one of those that can be used and is occasionally used. Um, back in the day, wheat was really considered as a potential feedstock. It is rarely used today as a feedstock in any Nebraska ethanol plants. I would say 95 to 99 or 100% of Nebraska's feedstock is corn today.
SPEAKER_01Does your organization do anything in the biodiesel space?
SPEAKER_00Not yet, except to support them. But exciting thing, we do have one refinery coming online here in Nebraska, a renewable diesel plant at Hastings, Nebraska. And super exciting, I think, being the the cow gal that I am is gonna utilize animal fat for a good portion of their feedstock.
SPEAKER_01And so coming from packing plants?
SPEAKER_00Correct. Um, so when you when you look at the companies invested in that facility, Cargill is one of those companies, and it's a great way to utilize fat from their plants and put it right back into the agriculture system because renewable diesel can be so readily used in the equipment that that farms and raises the corn and soybeans.
SPEAKER_01So, what what's the future of the ethanol or uh renewable fuels industry? I mean, it's been around for a while. Uh it has ebbed and flowed. It certainly has been affected by various tax credits and other incentives that have been in place at various times. But uh, what's the current future, especially in light of the renewed or the growing emphasis on renewables? Uh also we hope is more domestic production and less reliance on foreign oil.
SPEAKER_00You just stated a really key aspect of what's important to our industry, and that is as much domestic and national security as possible, domestic production, national security. As we look at the future, people get really excited when they hear about things like sustainable aviation fuel. And the airlines are eager for that. Additionally, and I think somewhat uniquely, um, our military is eager for that because of that domestic and national security that you brought up. Can we produce enough to support every airplane, their full tank, every flight? Absolutely not. But can we produce enough aviation fuel from US produced grains or oils to make a dent in what gets utilized? Absolutely. One of our one of our goals is to have ethanol to jet. There are there are folks who do not um think that's the most efficient method of coming up with sustainable aviation fuel. Um, yet we know that that it is absolutely an opportunity and the airlines won't have the quantity they need without it. Um secondly, more cars across the entire globe are being built to utilize higher blends of ethanol in their gas tanks. And so more E15. Nebraska has been doing some great research on E30. Um, and can we get the automakers to make more flex fuel vehicles again like we used to have to burn E85? That would that would be really a great opportunity for the whole industry.
SPEAKER_01So I in a previous life did a little stint on Capitol Hill working uh for a member of the House. And I remember there was always the debate. We had Nebraska producers, ethanol, the folks in the ethanol industry who were supportive. Uh, and uh we had the folks from perhaps the petroleum industry who were not supportive, and they would point to the tax credits for ethanol. The ethanol folks would rightfully point to the amount of uh money that we protect, you know, tankers coming across the ocean and all that stuff, the investment we made, and it kind of evened out. Have the two petroleum, ethanol, have you kind of coalesced? Have you found some common ground when it comes to providing a domestic resource for national security issues? Are you are you getting are you getting along better?
SPEAKER_00Amazingly, yes. I know that may not be what you expected to hear, but a few years ago, a group of governors from eight states filed a lawsuit making a request to the EPA to grant year-round E-15 utilization in in their states, and they're pretty much out of the middle of the country. No petroleum company wants a carved out area. Um, the way their pipelines work, they want to be able to be as efficient as possible as possible in shipping the fuel all year long. And so they have really come alongside us, many of them, in supporting having nationwide year-round E-15. And we were so very, very close right before Christmas with the CR. Um, and had we got the CR passed that was originally presented that had a lot more items in it that would have been in there. And thank goodness for Senator Fisher and Congressman Smith for pushing for that so hard for us, like they do. Um, so we'll be back at it this year.
SPEAKER_01So CR fancy lobbyist term for continuing resolution or funding our country. Yes, okay. So bright future, uh, certainly, especially from a national security standpoint. What roadblocks or hurdles do you see for the renewable fuels industry in the future?
SPEAKER_00Exactly those things I just listed that are opportunities are also hurdles. It seems like we're constantly battling some kind of rule or regulation. So whether it's something as simple as your round E15 or getting a pathway, um, there's there's very technical things that have to happen with the EPA for a product to exist. So sustainable aviation fuel, we have to have a pathway through EPA for that to occur. We don't have that in place yet. And those things take a lot of time. Um, additionally, just supporting every aspect of the entire industry. So is it renewable chemicals, renewable plastics, all those other things that happen at certain kinds of ethanol plants, which are called wet mills. We have two kinds here in Nebraska. Wet mills, we have two of them, and then the balance, the other 22 are dry mills. Um, we can do a lot, we can make a lot of other products, and we want to support that research, the trade, all of those things. And with each new federal administration, new wonky things come up that we get to talk about.
SPEAKER_01So distiller grains, obviously a huge feed source for especially cattle. Uh, do you have a background on how that came about? At least I was always led to believe it was somewhat by accident, and then all of a sudden that that has become a very uh uh much sought-after commodity for feeding. Is that what what do you recall?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And I got to be, so I'll totally give away my age here, but I was I was at the University of Nebraska uh majoring in animal science, ruminant nutrition, in fact, and for listeners, that means beef, cattle, sheep, something that has the four compartments in the stomach. Um, when we decided it might be a good idea to try to feed corn gluten feed and distiller's grains. And so we were doing all the studies at that time, 90 to 94, figuring out how to really implement it in diets effectively and what what good or bad things come from that, and how do we change the outcome of the meat? Because we want everybody to have the best beef eating experience they can possibly have. And then what does it look like for pork or chicken? Um what we learned is that it's very suitable for beef and dairy cattle, and just to really be nerdy, when when a beef animal eats something, its stomach is like a big fermentation vat. The the distiller's grains, when they consume that, it's already been fermented, it's been through the process, so it's very easily digested and it makes the animal's stomach very comfortable, but they get all of the energy and all of the protein that they need as part of a complete diet. And it smells really good and it tastes really good. So it's become an integral part of beef cattle diets in Nebraska, especially and surrounding states. Um, and so it it's it's key to the ethanol plant as a revenue source, it's key to the feedlots as a feed source.
SPEAKER_01So when I was on East Campus, they used to have one or more cows that had a window on the rumen that you could go in there and kind of dig around. Did you ever uh have to go in there and did you uh uh do that with the uh distiller grains?
SPEAKER_00We did. We did. And so so what we did with that was we would it was called a cannula. That's what the round rubber window and the side was called. Yes, the window and the side. So when you pull the cap off that window and you can reach inside there, we had a little ladle and we would dip out some fluid. And so when you reach in there first, it's like a mat. All of the grass and hay that they eat is floating on top, like a mat. And then underneath that is rumen fluid that's just teeming with microbes. And so we would dip that out and we would fill hundreds of test tubes with that rumen fluid and have it in a big hot warm water bath that's the same temperature as a beef animal, and we could test all different feeds rather than having to have 200 animals. We had 200 test tubes, and we could could run different kinds of feed mixes and see how well they did.
SPEAKER_01You're nerding out on me right now. This is awesome. This is great. So um, there's a lot of myths out there about ethanol, and some of those date way back to when it first came online about uh compatibility with various engines, whether it be cars, trucks, even down to lawnmowers and things like that. Let's talk about those myths. Help me dispel those myths for those who're still adhering to those things that existed in, say, the 1980s.
SPEAKER_00So different. One, one, many engines are made differently now to be able to handle that. Um, number two, if you have a really old classic vehicle and it's super cool, and my husband is a bit of a car guy, so I'm not gonna tell you, oh, you should use E30 in a 1965.
SPEAKER_01You're searching for leaded fuel, right?
SPEAKER_00Right, right. Premium leaded fuel, so which is also impossible to find in most states. So anything 2001 and newer at this point, you can use E15 in that vehicle. And I would encourage you to do so. It costs less money, cleaner emissions, all those things. Um, regarding lawnmowers, motorcycles, I I will confess in our lawnmower, we use E10 all the time because that's what our town has for in, you know, gas in the gas pump. Um, I had co-workers in the past who ran really nice Harleys and they use E85 in their Harleys. Whether it's recommended by the manufacturer or not, they did not have problems. Additionally, E30, which is available at some stations around our state, um not legally according to EPA, but safely without damaging your vehicle, can also be used in in any newer vehicle. And the state of Nebraska has been doing tests, running it in in their state fleet. And everything from the little white car from the university or the department of roads to the troopers' vehicles, um, zero check engine lights, zero mechanical problems. So we have really good data coming from right here in the state of Nebraska to share with the EPA as they consider updating those rules and guidelines.
SPEAKER_01What how does it come about that one station may have five or six different pumps with various uh percentages of ethanol or renewable fuels, and others don't have any? How does that come about? Is that market driven or are there incentives for that?
SPEAKER_00Could be both. Um, so Nebraska right now does have an incentive for the retailers to offer more higher blends. And we got that law passed a couple of years ago so that more E15 saving consumers money and helping farmers and our ethanol plants. Uh a good all-Nebraska bill got passed, and that does sunset over time, but it gives those fuel retailers time to make improvements if they need to, whatever they need to do to be able to start offering the product. Several other states have also done this, our neighbors in Iowa being one of them. Another thing that happens is different states have different gas pump labeling. And it the easier it is, or the more plain it is, probably the better it is for the consumer. Um, and and we may be working on that right here in Nebraska this year, which I think can be helpful. When you get down to just what our federal government requires, and anything beyond that would be a canopy or a company label of their choice and marketing, as you brought up, then that's easier for consumers to have confidence in what they're purchasing.
SPEAKER_01So we're on the eve of the session of the Nebraska legislature. Uh, does renewable fuels Nebraska have some agenda items, things you'd like to get accomplished? Are you playing offense or defense?
SPEAKER_00We hope we're not playing a lot of defense this year. Um, we've had some really exciting things the last couple of years. We had some great offense a couple of years ago with that E-15 bill. Um, this year we're just working alongside the ethanol board to modernize the statute that allows them to exist. Um and then we did talk about that pump labeling bill, and I believe Nebraska petroleum marketers may be bringing that, and we are eager to stand arm in arm with them, um, get that across the finish line. And then there will be a lot of observing and just making sure there's nothing harmful to the to the industry.
SPEAKER_01So, Don, something we ask all of our guests, and you only get one word, no more than one word. What's one word that best describes and explains this great place in which we live? And you've raised a family and you've been wildly successful and currently work today. What's one word that describes Nebraska?
SPEAKER_00Gracious.
SPEAKER_01Please explain.
SPEAKER_00I come from really rural small town Nebraska. And I believe that in those parts of the state, which is the vast majority of our state, we are still in a place where neighbors really help neighbors and communities really help communities. And even if you're having a hard time yourself, when somebody's having a harder time, you step up and help them. And I have watched more, you know, we just had a really cold stretch of days here. Guys are breaking ice in tanks for each other out in cornstalk fields. They're dropping off hay for each other. They're hauling water for each other. It's something as small as that to helping fight a major fire, to taking food when someone is sick. That's what Nebraskans do. And it could be at that small community scale and it can be at the grand full state scale.
SPEAKER_01Amen, sister. I love it. It's perfect. Don, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit with us today. If you enjoyed this episode, consider sharing it with your family and friends. And while you're at it, give it a five-star rating too. Please keep listening as we release additional episodes on Nebraska, its great communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the folks who make it happen. Thanks.
SPEAKER_02This has been Nighty Three, the podcast, sponsored by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Ludkey.
