(Photo: Iowa Soybean Association / Kriss Nelson)
From the field to fifth avenue
February 26, 2026 | Kriss Nelson
In New York City, soybeans power ferries crossing the harbor, snowplows clearing streets, garbage trucks and emergency vehicles that keep the city running. For farmers on the Big Apple Tour held in December, it was a reminder that soybeans do not stop at the grain elevator; they show up in places you would never expect, doing real work in one of the world’s biggest cities.
“The Big Apple Tour gives soybean farmers a firsthand look at how their crops are working far beyond the farm gate,” says Tom Verry, director of outreach and development at Clean Fuels Alliance America. “New York City is proving that biodiesel and renewable diesel can fully replace fossil diesel at scale, from more than 12,000 city vehicles to iconic assets like the Staten Island Ferry. Seeing the nation’s largest city achieve nearly a 50 percent reduction in fleet greenhouse gas emissions underscores the real, growing demand for soybean-based clean fuels and the role farmers play in delivering practical climate solutions today.”
Brent Renner, a farmer from Klemme and a United Soybean Board (USB) director, says conversations with officials from the City of New York offered a clear look at how clean fuels are moving from discussion to daily use in one of the nation’s largest municipalities.
During meetings with city leaders responsible for fleet and infrastructure decisions, officials walked through how they have steadily increased use across their systems and emphasized that reliability has not been an issue. In fact, Renner says the message to soybean leaders was a direct one: have confidence in the product and don’t hesitate to take the story to other cities.
“They basically challenged us to keep pitching this to more municipalities,” Renner says, noting that if problems existed, New York would not be relying on clean fuels the way it does today. “If they were having issues, we’d be hearing about it.”
That confidence was reinforced with a firsthand look at renewable diesel in action aboard the Staten Island Ferry. Renner says seeing the vessel operating on 100% renewable diesel is proof how dependable the fuel is, given how critical the ferry system is to thousands of New Yorkers who depend on it every day.
Beyond performance, Renner said city staff shared an unexpected but telling benefit. Operators and maintenance workers have noticed a difference at the end of the day, with fewer harsh odors compared to traditional diesel.
“They joked that they come home smelling more like French fries instead of soot and smoke,” Renner says. “It’s a small thing, but it says a lot about the fuel and the experience for the people who work with it every day.”
Fueling the city
Soybeans grown on Midwest farms are helping keep New York City moving as the city expands its use of renewable diesel.
Keith Kerman, deputy commissioner and chief fleet officer for New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), remembers the city’s first biodiesel trial in 2005, when it was tested in sanitation trucks on Staten Island.
“Our technical staff saw that it ran well and met our operational needs,” Kerman says. “That’s what opened the door.”
Two decades later, that early trial has evolved into a full-scale transition. Renewable diesel has replaced fossil diesel across New York City’s fleet of more than 30,000 assets, the largest municipal fleet in the nation.
“This is not a B5 or B20 story,” Kerman says. “This is renewable diesel as a complete replacement.”
Harbor impact
The Staten Island Ferry transitioned to renewable diesel in 2024 and now uses about 3.8 million gallons annually. Fuel use accounts for roughly 94% of the ferry system’s greenhouse gas emissions, making the switch a major emissions reduction win.
Gary Prasad, who oversees DCAS field operations, says mechanics noticed immediate changes.
“When they go in for routine maintenance, engine parts are cleaner,” Prasad says. “There’s no smell. People love that.”
That benefit extends beyond the engine room. Residents near ferry docks have reported reduced odors and visible emissions.
“It’s been a pleasant surprise,” Kerman says. “People don’t go home and get told, ‘You stink.’ ”
Operational reality
New York City’s transition to renewable diesel is driven by reliability as much as emissions.
“Snow removal is one of the most sensitive operations we have,” Kerman says. “You cannot afford disruption.”
While the city operates nearly 6,000 electric vehicles, heavy-duty equipment remains a challenge.
“You’re not going to electrify plow trucks anytime soon,” he says.
Prasad echoes that point, pointing to plow trucks as a clear example.
“You can’t plow with an electric truck,” he says. “The technology doesn’t yet exist.”
Renewable diesel helps bridge that gap, allowing the city to cut emissions without compromising performance in critical services.
Kerman says the city has already achieved a 46.5% reduction in fleet greenhouse gas emissions through 2024. It’s expected to exceed 50% in 2025.
Despite a fuel premium of about 80 cents per gallon, efficiency gains have offset costs.
“We actually spent less overall on fuel,” Kerman says.
Scaling up
Looking ahead, Kerman says the next major frontier is not vehicles but buildings. The city already uses biofuels in heating oil, but scaling renewable fuels in buildings brings new regulators and logistical hurdles.
“There’s about 25 million gallons in transportation and about 25 million gallons in heating oil,” he says. “It’s an equal challenge.”
Courtney Videchak, Ph.D, with MARC-IV says the clean fuels industry is making measurable progress in applications that often get overlooked in decarbonization conversations, including heating oil and marine transportation. But she says the opportunity is the same for both: act now with fuels already available in existing equipment.
Heating oil
Clean Fuels Alliance America has worked with UL Solutions and leading burner manufacturers to update listing procedures for B100, 100% pure biodiesel used as heating oil, expanding equipment compatibility across the industry, says Videchak.
As a result, most home heating oil burner manufacturers now have UL-listed equipment approved for B100 and fully support its use in the new burners they are selling. She noted that one of the co-authors on a recent ASTM International ballot addressing higher biodiesel blends, ranging from B21 to B50, is burner manufacturer R.W. Beckett Corporation.
Videchak said the progress reflects decades of years of technical work. Clean Fuels has partnered with the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) and other technical experts to conduct bench-scale, laboratory-scale, and field testing to support higher biodiesel blends in heating oil applications.
That research, she added, has been funded through soybean checkoff dollars, helping move higher blends from concept to commercial readiness.
Northeast market momentum
Thousands of miles from Iowa soybean fields, policy decisions being made in Northeastern statehouses are shaping demand for biodiesel and renewable diesel, creating long-term markets for soybean oil used in those fuels.
Steve Dodge, director of state regulatory affairs for Clean Fuels Alliance America, says the Northeast is one of the most consequential regions for biomass-based diesel growth because of its heavy reliance on heating oil and growing emissions mandates.
The region represents roughly a 4-billion-gallon heating oil market each year, expanding to more than 8 billion gallons when transportation is included. Policies that increase biodiesel and renewable diesel use in those markets directly translate into increased soybean oil demand.
“There’s a lot of opportunity out there,” Dodge says. “We’re focused on incentivizing the use of biomass-based diesel, especially in the heating space in the Northeast.”
Several Northeastern states have adopted or are considering policies that drive that demand. New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut require increasing biodiesel blends in heating oil, creating a predictable and growing market for clean fuels. New York also offers income tax rebates for Bioheat® fuel users, further encouraging adoption.
Low carbon fuel standards (LCFS) are another major driver. Dodge points to California, where nearly 80% of the diesel pool is now non-fossil, making fossil diesel harder to find than clean alternatives. Similar trends are emerging in Oregon and Washington, as Northeastern states evaluate their own programs. Dodge says feedstock-neutral policies are critical to keeping soybean oil competitive.
“LCFS programs have to treat all feedstocks fairly,” he says.
Those discussions are accelerating as states such as Massachusetts, New York and Vermont face legally binding emissions requirements.
“These are not goals. They are laws,” Dodge says.
Affordability is also shaping policy choices. High electricity rates across the Northeast have intensified interest in lower-carbon liquid fuels that can be used immediately without major infrastructure changes.
Across the region, Dodge says momentum continues to build. Maryland is poised to adopt a clean heat standard, while Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York continue to debate low carbon fuel policies that could further expand clean fuel use.
For Iowa soybean farmers, those policy decisions matter.
“Clean fuels are creating demand that’s durable, scalable and happening now,” Dodge says. “That demand runs straight back to the farm.”
Federal policy outlook
For soybean farmers, clear, consistent federal policy is critical to sustaining biodiesel and renewable diesel markets and the demand for soybean oil that supports them, says Kurt Kovarik, vice president of federal affairs for Clean Fuels Alliance America.
Soybean oil is a core feedstock for biomass-based diesel, and policy stability has a direct impact on market growth.
“The biodiesel and renewable diesel industry was using about 650 million pounds of soybean oil every month in 2017-18, crossed one billion pounds per month in 2021-22, and then dipped to about 975 million pounds per month in 2024-25," he says. “That slowdown in consumption largely reflects federal policy uncertainty.”
Credit shift
For nearly two decades, the industry relied on a $1-per-gallon blender’s tax credit that rewarded blending regardless of where fuel was produced, leading to increased imports.
“In 2016-17, we were approaching a billion gallons of foreign fuel capturing that credit,” Kovarik says.
Congress replaced that incentive in 2022 with the technology-neutral 45Z production credit, which ties incentives to a fuel’s carbon intensity and domestic production. That shift ensures U.S.-grown soybeans and U.S.-based plants benefit directly from federal clean fuels policy.
Carbon scores and ILUC
Kovarik says soybean-based fuels perform well under carbon scoring.
“Soybean oil is about 65 percent less carbon intensive than petroleum diesel,” he says.
Removing indirect land-use change, or ILUC, from carbon-intensity calculations further improved credit values for soybean-based fuels.
“Without ILUC, credit values roughly double,” Kovarik says.
Policy durability
Congress extended and enhanced 45Z in 2024 and reinstated the small producer credit for plants under about 60 million gallons annually, providing a longer runway for the industry.
Kovarik cautioned that how the policy is implemented over time will matter just as much as the statute itself.
“Markets respond to certainty,” he says. “Durable policy supports investment and demand.”
RFS pressure
Beyond tax policy, Kovarik pointed to the Renewable Fuel Standard. He says recent EPA volume-setting fell short of industry capacity, though proposed increases for 2026 and 2027 were a positive signal. He cautioned that small refinery exemptions can still avoid mandates after the fact if waived gallons are not fully reallocated.
Marine opportunity
When it comes to biofuels in the marine sector, Videchak says the emissions footprint is large enough to demand attention and the market potential is significant.
“The marine sector contributes about 3 percent of global emissions,” she says. “To put this into perspective, if the marine sector were a country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter in the world.”
Marine operators face growing pressure to adopt lower-carbon options. Cost remains the defining factor, as long-term solutions such as new vessels or major retrofits carry hefty price tags, Videchak says.
“That leaves fuel as the most practical near-term solution,” she says. “A new fuel in existing vessels is the most cost-effective way to decarbonize today.”
The scale of the opportunity is substantial. Globally, marine fuel use totals about 87 billion gallons annually, including roughly 7 billion gallons in the U.S. Kovarik says marine fuels represent a major growth opportunity if policy barriers are addressed.
Current renewable fuel rules largely exclude marine applications, eliminating incentives that could accelerate adoption. Bipartisan legislation, Kovarik says, could change that.
“It’s about a 4-billion-gallon market,” he says, comparable in size to the home heating oil sector.
Heavy fuel oil remains common in marine shipping and is thick, tar-like and highly polluting.
“They’re burning basically tar,” Kovarik says. “It’s bunker fuel.”
Advanced alternatives such as methanol and ammonia are not yet available at scale, leaving biodiesel and renewable diesel as drop-in options that can be used immediately in existing vessels.
“There are low-carbon alternatives that work now,” Videchak says. “Biodiesel and renewable diesel can deliver immediate reductions.”
Kovarik says biodiesel fits not just environmentally, but economically.
“They’re going to replace it with the lowest-cost, readily available alternative,” he says. “That’s soybean-based biodiesel.”
The marine sector also offers technical advantages. Vessels already heat fuel as part of normal operations, making higher biodiesel blends easier to adopt. Recent updates to ISO marine fuel specifications now include biodiesel blends up to B100.
Videchak points to the Great Lakes as a strong near-term opportunity, where vessels remain in service for decades and fuel switching can deliver immediate benefits.
Ultimately, she says awareness remains the biggest barrier.
“The technology exists,” Videchak says. “We need to connect the fuel, the supply chain and the decision-makers.”
“These folks want our fuel,” Kovarik adds.
Environmental justice connection
As Clean Fuels Alliance America works to expand the use of biodiesel and renewable diesel, it has partnered with Groundwork Elizabeth and the United Soybean Board (USB) to help environmental organizations better understand how clean fuels can deliver immediate air-quality and public-health benefits.
Groundwork Elizabeth, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, is a nonprofit organization focused on improving environmental, economic and social well-being by regenerating urban spaces and empowering local communities, particularly youth, through green infrastructure, job training and climate resilience projects.
Verry says the partnership created an opportunity to work together on air quality, public health and near-term emissions reductions, while also producing air-quality analysis and health-impact modeling tools regulators can understand in a community surrounded by overlapping pollution sources, including Newark Airport, the Port of Elizabeth, I-95 and nearby refineries.
That environment is also where Groundwork Elizabeth operates a micro farm and delivers education connecting food, health and environmental conditions.
John Evangelista, executive director of Groundwork Elizabeth, says the organization is rooted in the belief that underserved communities deserve access to clean environments, healthy food and opportunity. They developed curriculum connecting students with food production. With support from partners, including the soybean checkoff, the program has expanded.
As the partnership developed, soy education became part of that programming.
“Last year we had 2,000 kids come to the micro farm,” Evangelista says. “We teach these kids what soy is and how it’s used, including in biofuel.”
USB program director for industrial uses McKenna Losby says partnerships like this help expand conversations beyond traditional agriculture circles.
“Some things can’t be electrified,” Losby says. “And soy can be used in those.”
USB Director Pat Giberson, a farmer-leader from New Jersey, says visiting Elizabeth and seeing the program firsthand highlighted how farmers and environmental groups often have more in common than they might assume.
“Oftentimes, environmental groups and farmers end up on opposite sides of the field,” Giberson says. “But we connected on the fact that we have a lot more in common than we have apart.”
The experience also offered a new perspective on privilege and place.
“We’re very privileged to do what we do as farmers in this country,” Giberson says. “We don’t always realize the gift we’ve been given with the open spaces we farm. Being in Elizabeth and seeing how underserved some of those communities are really opens your eyes.”
Written by Kriss Nelson.
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