The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By Dessa Rodeffer, Publisher/Owner
Burlington, IA - March 6 - Catfish Bend Conference Center
A large gathering of happy investors attended Big River Resources LLC and Cooperative’s annual meetings last week, to hear of the past year’s accomplishments and to hear of the outlook for next year’s ethanol industry.
Chief Operating Officer Deborah Green welcomed the members and guests and said like anywhere across the nation there are things that happen that need attention throughout the year and she referred to a button that has fallen off of a shirt––It needs to be addressed.
“Deb” introduced the board members, the staff, and employees as the ones who are putting the buttons back on the shirt. They are working behind the scenes, making sure everything continues to run smoothly.
It takes a dedicated team to be successful and she asked all board members, staff and employees to stand and they received a round of applause for their due diligence in making BRR the success and leader in the ethanol industry that it continues to be.
Deb also recognized CEO Dave Zimmerman for receiving the HIGH OCTANE REWARD this past year, which is the ethanol industry’s highest award. Zimmerman serves on the Growth Energy board with Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor which educates legislators in Washington D.C. as well as many across the nation about the value of ethanol and the use of cleaner and lower price gasoline of E-15 and E-85. They speak at conferences, offer workshops for mechanics, and will talk to anyone to answer their questions. Zimmerman was given a round of applause.
Chairman of the Board Andy Brader conducted a short business meeting, approving last years minutes as posted in the program.
BRR’s special guest speaker Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig was introduced.
Naig, grew up in his family’s Century Farm in northeast Iowa near Cylinder and continues to be involved in the family operation today working alongside his father and uncle. He and his wife Jaime have three boys.
A graduate of Buerna Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, Naig was elected in 2018 as the 15th Iowa Secretary of Agriculture.
Naig told attendees of Big River Resources, LLC and Big River Resources Cooperative meetings, “There is a softening of the American Economy” and things happening “start at the farmers’ gate.” Naig reminded, “It’s the farmers who feed the world.”
In Iowa, Naig said, they were maintaining taxes and regulations to be attractive for farmers to come here, and grow, and achieve the American dream. He also works to ensure the future of Iowa agriculture remains bright for the next generation.
Naig also said the ethanol growth will excel in Iowa with the mandate of all gas stations having to supply E-15 to the customers by next year.
Naig leads efforts to grow local domestic and international markets and to expand trade opportunities “for the hard working men and women who provide food, feed, fiber, and fuel to consumers here and around the world.”
Investors heard the positive Financial Report for the past year from Chief Financial Officer Jordan Rettmann who explained that 2024 was their third best year ever (2023 their second best).
BRR CEO Dave Zimmerman said, “We have not reached our goal yet where we hope to see ethanol” production and sales.”
Zimmerman said besides anticipating growth in ethanol sales, they anticipate growth in sales of DGB currently 15% of the revenue flow, corn oil currently 5-6% of the revenue sales, and improvement in the cost of natural gas which currently is 3% of production costs.
Zimmerman said the cost for natural gas can change very rapidly. He said 4.8 million was spent in electricity, in 2022 it was $7 million. When the new solar system is fully installed, the electric bill at Galva will be completely gone, in said.
Zimmerman also said, “We’ve seen a $30,000 a day increase in profit almost overnight, a 10-12% increase.
He said in 2025, BRR will see at Boyceville plant, a $1-2 million increase in revenue due to an improved finer grind, the most effective you can do.
In talking about reduced corn ethanol (g CO2e/MJ) and tax credits, Zimmerman said “We did get a new 45D Greet model. It’s called 45CF, the CF stands for clean fuel,” he explained. The Iowa penalty indirect land exchange will lower dramatically, five and a quarter.
Zimmerman explained, “What we have done is taken calculations on a generic 1 million gallon ethanol plant without any CCS, without any major carbon emissions into place, and ran them for a baseline score and the baseline score for this basic “standard” Midwest plant equals 49.7, so that’s below 50.” Currently we are calculating BRR plant scores vs this new Greet model.”
“There is definitely some opportunity here with a few changes, it does show some of the things we are looking for.”
“So…what does this all mean?” Zimmerman asks.
“We’ve got the 45D, we’ve got the CSAs, and we got the new Greet model. The problem is, all of these need some sort of action from the current administration to be effective to be used. So great, what is Trump going to do?”
“My board is tired of hearing me saying, we don’t know about the tax credits yet, but I’m going to say it again, we don’t know what the Trump administration is going to do”. We know they are all going to have to be touched in some shape or form. So, if I had to guess, I think the 45D will survive, in a different form….it won’t look exactly like it did in January but I think it will survive.
Along with that,” Zimmerman noted, “what is Congress going to do about the Inflation Reduction Act, and that is where this tax credit is embedded.”
“Part of my reluctance,” he said, “I know we are talking about the Tax Cut and Jobs Act and how the administration is going to cut the $4.5 trillion of taxes. So, I think a lot of these things will be under debate upon, if they will be moved forward or if they will be cut out.”
Zimmerman went on to talk about another opportunity BRR is looking into and that is their limited pilot program on corn feed stock with 21 Iowa and 31 Illinois growers delivering corn to BRR, to convert for CI reduction 23.15.
Again the program Feedstock CI Reduction is contingent on the Tax credits moving forward. Fifty-two participants have contracts signed for 87,186 acres represented over two states of Iowa and Illinois. We will continue to monitor this very closely with a CI of 30.7. to 17.0 in that group of growers. Right now we learned what we wanted to but we have not expanded this into 2025 but we are waiting to see what if the credits will move forward.