Representatives from the soybean industry, including 11 ASA directors, attended the annual National Biodiesel Board (NBB) conference this week in San Diego, Calif., where over 800 attendees brought the conference “Engage” theme to life.

ASA directors met biodiesel manufactures, fuel distributors, fleet managers, and state regulators from across the country.

“This is always a good event for networking, starting relationships, and building on existing ones,” said ASA Director Rob Shaffer, who also serves on the NBB Board of Directors. “Advocacy, at both the federal and state level, was a significant focus of the conference.”

The biodiesel industry creates and sustains jobs, taxes, and uses for soybean oil, along with other feedstocks. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, along with U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis and Darin LaHood of Illinois taped videos that were played at the conference telling attendees about the power of advocacy and education.

Other topics of interest discussed at the conference included NBB priorities for 2019, which include extension of the biodiesel tax credit and the significance of California as a top market for biodiesel in the U.S. Another topic was the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volumes and concern over the waivers granted by EPA that undermine the program.

Sustainability is always a topic of interest and attendees learned how manufactures, distributors, fleet managers and convenience stores are using biodiesel in their sustainability plans.

Along with Shaffer, other attendees included ASA Chairman John Heisdorfer (IA), Daryl Cates, David Droste, Stan Born (IL), Brad Kremer (WI), Brandon Wipf (SD), Matt Stutzman (MI), Scott Metzger and Jerry Bambauer (OH), and Chris Hill (MN).