MAXWELL, Iowa — U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman recently toured Iowa Biodiesel Board (IBB) Executive Director Grant Kimberley’s sixth-generation farm to discuss trade issues relevant to biodiesel, including the purported threat imported biodiesel poses to the domestic market and "to the success of the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)."

"Trade has been essential to our economic recovery, and it delivers extraordinary benefits to Iowa as one of the largest agricultural exporters in the United States," Froman said.

On Aug. 9-10, he traveled to Des Moines, in addition to the Kimberley farm, to meet with Iowa farmers, ranchers, Iowa State Fair attendees, small business owners and elected officials to discuss the U.S. trade agenda. Currently, Iowa is the second-largest agricultural exporter in the United States; in 2013, Iowa goods exports were $13.9 billion, an increase of 165 percent from 2003.

At Kimberley’s Maxwell farm, he raises corn and soybeans on 4,000 acres. Once harvested, much of their crops are exported, often to Asian markets. During Froman’s tour, Kimberley discussed an application he made to the U.S. EPA. Submitted by the trade association representing Argentine biodiesel producers, the IBB is asking the EPA to approve an "Alternative Renewable Biomass Tracking Requirement."

If approved, it would replace what the IBB called "the stringent feedstock recordkeeping requirements" of the RFS regulations and allow Argentine biodiesel to qualify for the U.S. biomass-based diesel program under a more streamlined review process.

"The unfortunate fact is that if the EPA approves Argentina’s application, we could be looking at 600 million gallons or more of Argentine biodiesel imported to the U.S., displacing our own domestic production," said Kimberley, who’s also the Iowa Soybean Assoc. director of marketing development. "We know this because an Argentinean tax subsidy would allow each gallon of biodiesel from Argentina to enter the United States at prices lower than biodiesel produced in the U.S."

The RFS proposal would set biodiesel volumes at 1.28 billion gallons, a dramatic decrease from last year’s actual production of nearly 1.8 billion gallons. "Flooding the market with Argentine biodiesel in addition to this sharp cut would lead to a devastating loss of jobs currently supported by the domestic biodiesel market," Kimberley explained.

"Until the proposed cuts, the RFS had been working as intended, but now we’re in the unfathomable position of also replacing imported oil with imported biodiesel. It makes no sense."

Kimberley said Froman and his staff are aware of the issue and receptive to the IBB’s point of view.

During the tour of their facilities, the Kimberley family also talked about the importance of fair exports to U.S. agriculture and showcased technologies that enable their productivity, including the latest in agricultural equipment and touch-screen crop monitors that digitally map soybean and corn fields.

Afterward, Froman toured the new Molecular Advancement Center at Kemin Industries, Inc., a high-tech Des Moines business that manufactures more than 500 specialty ingredients for the food, feed, pharmaceutical and beauty industries, which are exported all over the world. At the Iowa State Fair, which ran Aug. 7-17, Froman had lunch with Republican Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley at the Iowa Pork Tent to sample the meat that Iowa farmers – the nation’s top pork producers – export to international customers.

In addition, Froman and Grassley toured the fairground’s Agriculture Building and held a roundtable with Iowa farmers, ranchers and state and local agriculture leaders to hear their input on how America’s trade policy can benefit the state’s agricultural community.

Later in the afternoon, Froman joined Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds for the Governor’s Charity Steer Show, hosted by the Iowa Beef Industry Council and the Iowa Cattlemen’s Assoc. Beef is another major export for Iowa farmers and a significant commodity for the state’s economy.

"Thanks to the hard work of Americans like the folks I met with in Des Moines today – farmers, ranchers, workers, small business owners – U.S. exports are hitting record highs and supporting tens of thousands of jobs in Iowa," Froman said.