United Soybean Board Promoting Use of Biodiesel for Consumer, Aviation Use

Ashley Davenport interviews Matt Gast at Commodity Classic 2022. Photo: United Soybean Board


The soybean industry is turning its attention to focus on biodiesel expansion. According to the United Soybean Board, soy growers can get an additional revenue of 13 percent because of biodiesel demand.
“Currently there’s 8 billion pounds of soy oil used in biodiesel every year,” says Matt Gast, USB farmer-leader and priority area coordinator of innovation and technology. “By 2030, that number is projected to do up to 16 billion pounds.”
The aviation industry has approached soybean industry to produce sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. This demand is encouraging for USB.
“We’re in this weird place right now with everything that’s going on, but renewable fuels has become a big topic,” says Gast. “We’re going to have a lot of uses for soy moving forward. I think by 2025, crush is going to go up by 30 percent—there’s a lot of uses here. The soybean is 80 percent meal and 20 percent oil. We’ve got to find uses for that, and I think renewable fuels is a big step for us to get where we want to be.”
Gast says USB is doing a lot of promotion on these fronts to put more money in farmers’ pockets.
“We’re out there doing the research and promotion, trying to get more money back into the farmers’ pocket,” he says. “Every dollar that gets invested in the checkoff, farmers see a $12.30 return on investment. Our work is very important, and we continue to try and stay ahead of the game.”

Recommended Posts

Loading...