Dear Editor,

Start your engines! This traditional command launches the Indianapolis 500. Those engines will roar to life this month.

Other — bigger — engines are moving across Indiana corn and soybean fields today. Farm tractors pulling plows and planters show that spring planting season is underway. Both racing engines and farm tractor engines require power. Much of that power comes from the same fields we plow.

I am an Indiana corn and soybean farmer. We not only grow food; we also grow the fuel and fiber that makes life safer and cleaner. Biodiesel made from soybeans and ethanol made from corn are two important clean-burning fuels sourced from Indiana’s farms.

Indiana makes nearly 100 million gallons of biodiesel annually — 5 percent of the total U.S. output. Biodiesel and renewable diesel made from soybeans reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent compared to petroleum diesel, according to the Clean Fuels Alliance America.

Indiana’s 15 biorefineries make an estimated 1.4 billion gallons of ethanol each year. In 2023, ethanol production consumed 43 percent of the state’s corn crop. One bushel of corn produces three gallons of ethanol. More than 75 countries imported U.S.-produced ethanol — equaling more than 477 million bushels of corn.

Future fuel opportunities may come from the farm, too, as several airline companies are looking into corn- and soybean-sourced sustainable aviation fuel.

Many Indiana corn and soybean checkoff programs have led to these opportunities — helping both farmers and all Hoosiers.

Larry Wilkinson
Kimmell