Earlier this week, EPA expanded the definition of heating oil under the renewable fuel standards (RFS). This rule comes under EISA's "additional renewable fuel" definition, which is fuel produced from renewable biomass that is used to replace or reduce the quantity of fossil fuel present in home heating oil or jet fuel. The prior definition of heating oil, under the RFS, was fuel that met the specifications of No. 1 or No. 2 heating oil, or being a non-petroleum diesel blend. According to code, non-petroleum diesel is a fuel with at least 80 percent mono-alkyl esters of long-chain fatty acids from vegetable oils or animal fats. The new definition makes it easier for blended advanced biofuels such as bioheat, a mixture of biodiesel and hea...
Key Takeaways: Argentina is on pace for a record corn crop and record exports in the current marketing year, with abundant supplies likely to keep the country highly competitive in global export markets. Argentina’s record exportable surplus is allowing it to offer highly competitive pri...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.