The biodiesel industry is waking up. And the people closest to it are saying so directly.
In a recent interview with the Iowa Soybean Association, Grant Kimberly, executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board, confirmed what the feedstock supply chain has been waiting to hear. All the biodiesel plants in Iowa, and he believes around the country, are coming back online and ramping up production.
For UCO collectors and soybean growers, this is the demand signal that matters.
What happened to the industry
To understand why this is significant, you have to understand how bad things got. According to Kimberly, the biodiesel industry just came out of what was probably the worst year in the history of the biomass-based diesel sector. There were no finalized RFS blending numbers. There was no tax credit certainty. Nothing was certain.
The result was devastating. Plants ran at extremely low levels. Some did not run at all. It was an especially difficult financial period for smaller independent biodiesel producers, the types of facilities concentrated across the Midwest that rely heavily on soybean oil, used cooking oil, and animal fats to produce fuel.
What changed
The EPA finalized the new Renewable Volume Obligations for 2026 and 2027 at the end of March. The numbers came in strong. Biomass-based diesel volumes were set at 5.4 billion gallons for 2026 and 5.7 billion gallons for 2027. Kimberly called it the largest increase in volume targets in the history of the program, roughly a 65 percent jump since the last targets were set in 2023.
The EPA also addressed small refinery exemptions, which have been a thorn in the industry's side for years. Under the new rule, 70 percent of gallons waived through exemptions will be reallocated back into the overall RFS program, meaning the actual blending obligation on refiners is even higher than the base numbers suggest.
Plants are restarting
Kimberly was clear about what is happening on the ground right now. Plants are coming back online. Production is ramping up. And over the next several months, those facilities are going to start running hard and consuming a lot of feedstock.
He projected that soybean oil usage by the biomass-based diesel industry will reach at least 17 billion pounds, up from a previous high of around 13 billion pounds. That is a massive increase. And soybean oil is just one piece of the feedstock picture. Animal fats, corn oil, canola oil, and used cooking oil all play a role in meeting these new volume targets.
Why this matters for UCO collectors
Every biodiesel plant that restarts needs feedstock on day one. The ramp-up Kimberly is describing does not happen without raw materials flowing into these facilities. Used cooking oil, with its favorable carbon intensity score, is one of the most sought-after inputs for producers trying to maximize credit value under the RFS and state-level clean fuel programs.
When plants were idle, buyer competition thinned out. Procurement slowed. Pricing softened. That dynamic is now reversing. More plants running means more buyers in the market competing for supply. For UCO collectors and grease processors, that translates directly into stronger demand and better pricing leverage.
Kimberly put it simply. Increased feedstock demand at biodiesel plants drives demand at soybean crush facilities, which drives demand for farmers. Roughly 10 percent of the net market value of soybeans is attributed to demand from the biodiesel and renewable diesel industry. The same supply chain logic applies to UCO. When production ramps up, every layer of the feedstock chain benefits.
The bottom line
The worst year in biodiesel history is over. The strongest blending mandate the program has ever seen is now in place. Plants are restarting across the country. And every gallon of biodiesel that gets produced needs feedstock to make it happen.
If you collect used cooking oil, the market just shifted. The buyers are back. Production is ramping. And demand for your product is heading up.
