When I first considered using biodiesel on my farm over 10 years ago, the United States was in the thick of two wars in the Middle East, the largest source of the world’s petroleum. I was on the board of the Sac County Rural Electric Cooperative, and we were looking for ways to bring industry and jobs to our county as well as support American products.

I joined others in the community to build a biodiesel plant that would produce clean fuel made right here in Iowa and add value to products...