Chevron restarts Iowa biodiesel plant as Senate nears permitting vote

Chevron says it will restart its shuttered biodiesel plant in Ralston, Iowa, backed by a feedstock agreement with farmer-owned co-op Landus, whose neighboring soy processing facility supplies the plant — one more signal that U.S. biodiesel output is climbing after a long lull.

The restart lands in a week crowded with policy and market news that reaches directly into farm margins.

What does the Senate permitting bill change?

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, expected to reach a full Senate vote early next week, would overhaul federal environmental permitting laws, especially for energy, and shield consumers from higher power grid costs tied to the buildout of AI data centers.

President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans back the bill, joined by key energy and environmental figures. On Thursday, the New York Times editorial board added its support, arguing the measure would lower energy costs and should pass now.

"The status quo is expensive, dirty and unstable. The country needs to build a lot of big, new things to make its future cheaper and cleaner," the editorial reads.

Democratic supporters frame the bill as an answer to the affordability crisis the party campaigned on in the midterms. The caveat: Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Rep. Jared Huffman of California — expected to lead the House Natural Resources Committee — argue the bill falls short and want more work next year. Environmental groups warn about effects on water and endangered species.

For growers, cheaper grid power is the promise; what the bill actually delivers won't be clear until it moves.

How far has New World screwworm spread?

The Arizona Department of Agriculture has confirmed a sixth case of New World screwworm in the state, in a domesticated horse near Pearce in Cochise County with no known travel history. The finding sits about five miles from Arizona's first documented case and closest active one.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service counts 128 U.S. animal cases nationally, 65 of them active, including 38 in New Mexico and 71 in Texas. The first U.S. case was reported June 3.

Five earlier Arizona cases across Graham, Greenlee and Cochise counties prompted the state to expand an infested zone — no animals may leave it until restrictions lift. AZDA is working with USDA, neighboring states and Mexican counterparts, releasing sterile flies nearby and building a dispersal facility in Douglas, Arizona.

The agency asks livestock owners, auctions, processing facilities and pet owners to report suspicious maggot-infested wounds immediately to [email protected] or 602-542-4293, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Movement restrictions are the immediate cost to ranchers in the zone; the national count says the outbreak is still growing.

Why are grocery prices rising again?

Grocery prices rose 0.4% in October, breaking three months of essentially flat prices, according to the Consumer Price Index released Tuesday. Cal Poly agribusiness professor Ricky Volpe said sustained energy cost increases over the last two and a half years are driving the move.

"We are almost certainly in this current [CPI] ... seeing the impact of sustained higher energy costs," Volpe told reporters Thursday on a call hosted by FMI-The Food Industry Association, which released its annual holiday grocery shopper trends report. The report showed consumers will cut other holiday items — but not food.

Annualized, October's gain would more than double the increase for the 12 months ending in September. Volpe expects retail food price inflation to stay "somewhat elevated" through year-end and probably into early 2027. There was no CPI in October 2025 because of the government shutdown — a reporting gap worth remembering when comparing the series.

Energy, not farmgate prices, is what Volpe blames; that distinction matters for anyone tracing margins along the chain.

Will ag employers get a workforce bill?

National Council of Agricultural Employers CEO John Hollay says employers will keep pushing for a farm workforce bill, introduced in the House earlier this year, in the waning days of this Congress. If that fails, he is optimistic about a Democratic Congress.

"We're certainly eager for this Congress to act in the remaining days," Hollay said on Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.

"When we look back at some of the recent Democratic Congresses, that's where we've had some of our best successes legislatively," he said, pointing to 2019, when a Democratic House passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act with 226 Democrats and 34 Republicans before it died in the Senate.

He sees "opportunities to work with a new incoming Democratic majority" and with Trump, "who has shown time and time again that he understands the unique challenge that farmers face."

Optimism, yes — but the last workforce bill cleared one chamber and stalled, and history can repeat.

Who is challenging the Endangered Species Act rewrite?

Forty-one Congressional Democrats and one independent are pressing the Trump administration over its reinterpretation of two Endangered Species Act definitions. Their letter says a looser definition of "take" would ease rules on incidental killing or injury of protected species, and rescinding the definition of "harm" would limit consideration of habitat modification.

"The ESA has provided a framework for protecting endangered wildlife while allowing economic activity to continue with appropriate safeguards for over 50 years," they write. "Any reinterpretation that could eliminate protections for these species is a serious and troubling departure from that framework and would undermine the law's implementation."

Signers include Huffman and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, ranking members of the committees with jurisdiction over the issue.

What else is in play?

Merkley wants to lead the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee next year, pledging bipartisan work on forever chemicals, transportation infrastructure and clean air and water. That committee holds jurisdiction over biofuels, including the push for year-round E15 access.

Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., made the E15 case directly: "I'm not giving up on year-round E15. Why? Because it's good for our farmers. It puts money in their pockets. But then, also, I want to go to the Big Three automakers to say: 'We want you to design the internal combustion engines that can take this ethanol. Build more efficient engines for us, please, and then we can start working on a higher blend of ethanol, which actually is what Europe already does.'"

Watch the Senate permitting vote early next week; its outcome will set the pace for the energy cost pressure now working through grocery prices.