Data released by the Iowa Department of Revenue1 (IDR) shows that retail sales of E15 in Iowa reached a record high of 410.10 million gallons in 2025, up 60% (153.35 million gallons) from 2024. Figure 1 shows the continued upward trend of E15 retail sales since 2015. E15 retail sales made up 27.2 % of...…
What is a Feasibility Study and Why is it Valuable? A feasibility study is a structured, data-driven analysis used to determine whether a business can realistically succeed under current and expected market conditions. For agricultural businesses and investors, it assesses opportunity and operational risks that could affect performance over time. Unlike intuition or experience alone,...…
Minnesota’s economy has always been powered by agriculture, trucking, manufacturing, and practical decision-making rooted in the realities of working families and businesses. That is why current conversations around a proposed “Low Carbon Fuel Standard” (LCFS), now being branded as a “Clean Transportation Standard” (CTS), deserve careful economic analysis and thoughtful discussion. Recent research shows that...…
Subsurface tile drainage is a farming practice utilized in various regions of the United States, primarily in the Midwest, that allows proper drainage of soils that do not naturally drain well. The practice involves a system of pipes and channels that allow water to flow out of an otherwise poorly drained field to a designated...…
Weekly federally inspected cattle slaughter data from 2024 through early 2026 points to a clear and sustained tightening in supply (Figure 1). In 2024, weekly slaughter generally ranged between 650,000 and 700,000 head, but that stepped down to roughly 600,000–650,000 in 2025 and has trended closer to 550,000–600,000 so far in 2026. While normal seasonal...…
At Decision Innovation Solutions, our work begins with one core principle: understanding the full picture of U.S. agriculture requires more than just numbers—it requires context, interpretation, and forward-thinking analysis. Every month and quarter, the United States Department of Agriculture releases critical reports that provide snapshots of the agricultural landscape. These include widely followed updates such...…
Paige Klipstein, Research Analyst Hazardous materials are present all around us at all times, oftentimes without our awareness of what they are, where they are located, or where they are being transported. They can be found at facilities located near industrial areas, in underground pipelines, on trains passing through our communities, and on the roads...…
By David Miller, Consulting Chief Economist, Decision Innovation Solutions USDA released the 2026 Prospective Plantings report on March 31, 2026. It shows U.S. farmers are planning to cut back on corn acres and plant more soybeans. The estimated acres to be planted to corn are 95.3 million acres, down 3.45 million acres from 2025 plantings,...…
The evening of January 22, 2026, the staff (less Jing Tang, Statistician who has 2 young children) and their guests headed for the first off-site annual meeting of Decision Innovation Solutions. Landing in Punta Gorda rental vehicles were loaded up and headed to the beautiful barrier island, Sanibel, on the gulf coast of Florida. Arriving...…
Soybean oil prices decreased by half in 2025 compared to prices around summertime of 2022. Soybean oil prices hit $0.42 per pound in December 2024, falling from nearly $0.90 per pound as shown in Figure 1. Soybean oil prices remain around $0.45 per pound during 2024 and then rose back to $0.55 per pound by...…
