It was only eight months ago that America’s Renewable Future (ARF) was launched in Iowa with the goal of educating presidential candidates about agriculture and biofuels in general and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in particular. But what the coalition has accomplished in that short time has been so impressive that the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) recognized them with the organization’s policy and legislative leadership award this year.

ARF co-chair Bill Couser – a livestock producer and ethanol advocate from Nevada, Iowa – says it’s been quite a year. “It’s kind of amazing the people that we’ve been able to meet,” he said. “And to be able to get the candidates out to our farms and ranches and take them to the ethanol plants and showcase what Iowa really is, I think they go back with a different understanding of who we are and why we do what we do.”

It’s also helped Iowa farmers and ranchers understand the candidates better. “I think one thing we’ve been able to bring out in these candidates is ‘who are you really?’,” said Couser. “You talk about their wives and their kids – we want to know that here in the Midwest.”

Couser says he still wants to get Hillary Clinton out to his operation near Nevada, Iowa “to get her out on our farms and ranches and actually show her about corn production and show her where ethanol’s made and show her what that’s done for our schools and our roads and how important that is for our country,” he said.

In this interview, Couser also talks about his testimony at the EPA hearing on the Renewable Fuel Standard, his unique perspective as a cattle producer and ethanol advocate, and why he is so involved with the American Coalition for Ethanol: Interview with Bill Couser, America's Renewable Future

2015 ACE Annual Meeting Photos