According to research commissioned by soybean farmers in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota through their state soy checkoff boards, biodiesel contributed to a $15 billion increase in soybean-oil revenues between 2006 and 2012. Over that time period, this raised the price of soybeans by 74 cents per bushel.

Soy-checkoff-funded research on biodiesel’s environmental benefits helped it qualify under the Environmental Protection Agency as an Advanced Biofuel. Under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (known as RFS2), at least 1.28 billion gallons of biodiesel will be produced in the United States in 2013.