Iowa agriculture secretary presents 2023 biodiesel, ethanol marketing awards

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig (left) presents Kwik Trip / Kwik Star with the Secretary's Biodiesel Marketing Award. Joel Fasnacht (right) accepted the award on behalf of Kwik Trip / Kwik Star.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced Jan. 10 that Growmark FS and Kwik Trip | Kwik Star are the winners of the 2023 Renewable Fuels Marketing Awards.

The awards were created to recognize fuel marketers that have gone above and beyond in their efforts to promote and sell renewable fuels. The award winners were spotlighted during the FUELIowa annual meeting held in Des Moines.

“Iowa’s renewable fuels industry continues to thrive, creating value-added markets for our crops, employing thousands of Iowans, and offering cleaner and more affordable fuel to consumers,” Naig said. “Growmark FS is being honored for their efforts to market ethanol and Kwik Trip | Kwik Star is receiving recognition for their biodiesel marketing. I want to thank both of those companies and their employees for continuing to build demand for Iowa-produced renewable fuels.”

Secretary’s Ethanol Marketing Award—Growmark FS Since the 1920s, the Growmark FS (Fast Stop) has been providing fuels across the Midwest. Today, it is a leading supplier of refined and renewable fuels and operate 19 Fast Stop locations in northwest Iowa.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig (left) presents Growmark FS with Secretary's Ethanol Marketing Award. Matthias Schwarzkopf (right) accepted the award on behalf of Growmark FS.

Through those Fast Stop locations, over 4.5 million gallons of refined fuels are sold each year.

Fast Stop operates in communities with a size of 264 residents in Yale, Iowa, to 24,912 residents in Fort Dodge.

Fast Stop offers E15 at all 19 locations. At seven of these locations, they offer higher blends of ethanol such as E30 and E85.

Secretary’s Biodiesel Marketing Award—Kwik Trip | Kwik Star Kwik Trip was founded in 1965 with headquarters in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It opened its first Iowa location under the name Kwik Star in 1993.

Kwik Trip | Kwik Star has been selling biodiesel in all their diesel gallons in Iowa since 2016. They offer separate diesel islands at over 300 of the 800-plus locations across the Midwest.

Kwik Trip has embraced including biodiesel blends from 5 percent to 20 percent across Iowa and only purchases biodiesel that meets or exceeds the ASTM D6751 standard and BQ-9000 quality protocol.

Since 2020, Kwik Trip has been awarded more than 25 biodiesel grants through the Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program to update existing infrastructure to sell biodiesel blends at locations across Iowa.

Iowa Renewable Fuels Industry Iowa leads the nation in production of ethanol and biodiesel and is the first state in the country to have an E15 standard. Based on 2021 analysis, the renewable fuels industry accounted for more than $5 billion of Iowa gross domestic product (GDP), generated $2.6 billion of income for Iowa households and supported nearly 46,000 jobs throughout the entire Iowa economy.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program offers cost-share grants to help fuel retailers with the installation, replacement and conversion of motor-fuel storage and dispensing infrastructure for E85 ethanol blends, registered E15 ethanol blends, and biodiesel from equipment that is B20-compatible.

The program also provides grant incentives to biodiesel terminal and storage facilities.

The program is managed by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and, to date, the state has invested approximately $60 million while private industry has invested over $200 million.