In July, the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) donated funds to sponsor biodiesel for charter buses traveling the Rock/Nobles State Cattlemen’s Tour.

The Council made the contribution of fuel to transport the more than 1,200 people around to the eight feedlots in the 25 charter buses used for the tour in Rock and Nobles County as well as promote biodiesel benefits.

Along with the fuel, the funds were used to put an erasing emissions message on numerous buses and other promotion around the event was done.

“The Council was happy to donate the funds to support another commodity group to educate on feedlots,” MSR&PC Chair Joe Serbus said. “It was also an excellent opportunity to deliver our message about the benefits of biodiesel out to a large audience.”

The biodiesel bus wraps at the Cattlemen’s State Tour were created in conjunction with the biodiesel erasing emissions bus wraps currently running on 46 buses in the Metro. The intent of the bus wrap ads is to inform Minnesotans that, despite calls for more electric vehicles, renewable fuels are already making an impact when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Minnesota was the first state in the nation to require biodiesel be blended with diesel. Each year, thanks to Minnesota’s minimum blending requirement, 246,000 vehicle emissions are removed, greenhouse gas emissions are depleted by more than 50% and particulate matter is lowered by 47%.

Biodiesel is made from a diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats, making it a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines without modifications.

The Nobles and Rock County Corn and Soybean Growers were present to volunteer, participate in the tour and educate on biodiesel.

“As a Nobles County Corn and Soybean Grower member I was glad MSR&PC chose to donate to an organization in our county that also supports our events,” said Matt Widboom, Nobles County Corn and Soybean Growers chair. “I heard great feedback from the attendees about the erasing emissions bus decals and we were able to have some good conversations about biodiesel because of it.”

The Nobles and Rock County Corn and Soybean Growers Association is affiliated with the MSR&PC, which oversees the investment of soybean checkoff dollars on behalf of nearly 28,000 soybean farmers in Minnesota. The Council is governed by the rules of a federally mandated checkoff program that requires all soybean producers to pay a fee on the soybeans they sell.