(NAFB) U.S. farmers remain hopeful the push for renewable diesel will open a large market for the vegetable oil pressed from soybeans. However, imported used cooking oil, particularly from China, has been supplanting that demand-pull. North Dakota State University agricultural economist Frayne Olson says this is because of two different interacting policies.
There are two policy layers: the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, and the federal RFS or Renewable Fuel Standard. CARB is quite literally in the driver’s seat.
The imported used cooking oil is considered a waste product. Its carbon footprint has already been assigned to the food industry. This is the characteristic that makes it valuable to oil companies. They get more California carbon policy bang for the buck from the used cooking oil than from processed soybean oil.
