Some New England residents are turning to soybeans for heat. It is called bio-heat, and growers say it has become a solid market.
“It’s caught on well, very, very popular. People love it, and there’s a whole industry developed around it now, about what modifications and so forth are done to the heating plants of furnaces, if you will, the boilers, and so it’s pretty neat, and it’s become a nice demand center for our soybean oil. It burns cleaner. It has fewer carbon deposits. It has a lot easier maintenance. It has natural lubricity, which of course, when we took sulfur out of our petroleum-based products, we lost a lot of lubricity, so there’s a lot of built-in advantages and that’s what they like about it,” said Andy Bensend, District One Director, Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board.
Bensend says it has been a gradual process. First, homeowners turned to fuels like bio-diesel over traditional heating oil, and from there, bio-heat took off.
Corn and wheat exports continue to outperform last year, while soybeans show steady but subdued movement compared to 2024.
December 09, 2025 12:14 PM
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Grain farms still have strong balance sheets, but another stretch of low profits will force hard cost cuts, especially on high-rent, highly leveraged operations.
December 09, 2025 11:41 AM
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Mold damage is tightening China’s corn supplies, supporting higher prices and creating potential demand for alternative feed grains in early 2026.
December 09, 2025 07:00 AM
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The new rule removes prevented-plant buy-up coverage, prompting strong objections from farm groups concerned about added risk exposure.
December 09, 2025 05:00 AM
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Lawmakers and experts react to the Administration’s long-awaited announcement of “bridge” aid to stabilize farms and offset 2025 losses until expanded safety-net programs begin in 2026.
December 08, 2025 05:40 PM
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Read the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s official press release published on Monday, December 8, 2025.
December 08, 2025 05:12 PM
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