Iowa Corn Growers Association asked lawmakers for relief from high diesel fuel costs.
Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch
As Iowa farmers begin harvesting their crops, corn growers in the state are asking Iowa congressional delegates to help lower the cost of diesel fuel, which has risen sharply with trade disruptions resulting from the war in Iran.
Iowa Corn Growers Association President Steve Kuiper wrote in a letter to Iowa’s senators and four representatives that while harvest should be a “positive” time of year for farmers, “the concern of affordability looms large.”
“This is accelerating the economic and mental stress farmers are feeling,” Kuiper said. “We are asking for your assistance in lowering the cost of a key input, diesel, that every combine, tractor and semi utilizes during the culmination of the growing season.”
According to AAA data for Iowa, average diesel prices in Iowa were $6.27 per gallon in Iowa — nearly twice as expensive as this time last year.
The conflict in Iran has led to significant trade disruptions as cargo ships struggle to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a prominent oil, fertilizer and natural gas trade path.
The resulting heightened fuel prices drove some Republicans, including Iowa Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn, to vote with Democrats in favor of requiring congressional approval if the president is to continue the war with Iran.
In the letter, corn growers asked lawmakers to push the Trump administration to “further release oil from the U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve.”
The administration approved in March the release of 172 million barrels of oil from the reserve in response to the war in Iran. The Strategic Oil Reserve is an emergency reserve of crude oil for the nation that has been drawn upon during crises. The reserve in June has less than 350 million barrels, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Miller-Meeks said farmers and truckers need relief now, and then the nation needs to focus on increasing domestic drilling for oil, selling year-round E15 fuel and ending the “open-ended war.”
“When a patient is hurt, you stop the bleeding first. Then you fix what caused it,” Miller-Meeks said in an emailed statement. “Iowa farmers are filling combines this week at the highest diesel price this state has ever seen, while oil companies ship record amounts of American diesel overseas. We must immediately suspend the federal and state gas tax, sell American diesel to Americans first and get relief to the farmers and truckers who cannot wait.”
Stop diesel exports
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa called for an embargo on the export of U.S. diesel to provide relief for U.S. farmers. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would support the ban, though some officials and industry professionals have argued an export ban won’t lower fuel prices.
In a social media post Wednesday, Grassley said he hopes the White House doesn’t listen to “Big Oil” claims that a diesel export ban wouldn’t work.
“Big Oil doesnt need 2 charge sky-high diesel prices 4 Iowa farmers + truckers just filling up They shld cut price 4 US diesel&get the $$ frm other countries,” Grassley wrote on X.
State Rep. Josh Turek, the Democratic nominee running for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat, last week called for tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, temporarily halting diesel exports and suspending the federal gasoline tax.
U.S. Rep. Rep. Ashley Hinson, the Republican running for Iowa’s open Senate seat, also supported an export ban via a social media post Monday.
Hinson also said the House, which has recessed until after the midterm elections, should “immediately” return to Washington, D.C., to “pause diesel exports, suspend the gas tax, fully unleash E15 and biodiesel, and work on a diesel relief program for truckers and farmers.”
“Iowans are being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran,” Hinson wrote on X. “We need to use every option at our disposal to provide some relief from high prices.”
The letter from Iowa Corn Growers Association also asked the Iowa delegation to “investigate legislative mechanisms” for waivers that would allow farmers to use dyed diesel fuel, intended for off-road uses, in on-road vehicles during “economic hardships.”
Off-road diesel fuel is a tax-exempt fuel that can be used for things like a combine or heavy machinery, but is illegal to use in vehicles that travel on a road.
Nunn said the U.S. has “to bring down the price of diesel.” In a social media post, Nunn suggested selling “American energy to Americans first” in addition to supporting biofuels and to holding oil companies accountable for “gouging.”
Miller-Meeks, Nunn and Hinson are all running in midterm elections considered “toss-up” races by the Cook Political Report.
The PAC for Iowa Corn Growers Association recently endorsed Republicans Hinson, Miller-Meeks and Nunn in their races.