Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business.
References to “we,” “us,” “our,” “Green Plains,” or the “company” refer to Green Plains Inc. and its subsidiaries.
Overview
Green Plains is an Iowa corporation, founded in June 2004 as a producer of low-carbon fuels and has grown to be a leading biorefining company maximizing the potential of existing resources through fermentation and patented agribusiness technologies. We continue the transition from a commodity-processing business to a value-added agricultural technology company creating sustainable, high-value ingredients from existing resources. To that end, we are currently executing on a number of initiatives to develop and implement proven agricultural, food and industrial biotechnology systems that allow for product diversification, new market opportunities and production of additional value-added low-carbon ingredients, such as Ultra-High Protein, dextrose, renewable corn oil and more, as well as offering these technologies to the broader biofuels industry.
Green Plains Partners LP, a master limited partnership, is our primary downstream storage and logistics provider since its assets are the principal method of storing and delivering the ethanol we produce. As of December 31, 2023, we owned a 48.8% limited partner interest, a 2.0% general partner interest and all of the partnership’s incentive distribution rights. The public owned the remaining 49.2% limited partner interest. The partnership is consolidated in our financial statements, and we record a noncontrolling interest for the economic interest in the partnership held by the public common unitholders. On January 9, 2024, pursuant to the Merger Agreement, we completed the acquisition of all the publicly held common units of the partnership not already owned by us and our affiliates. As a result of the Merger, the partnership common units are no longer publicly traded. Refer to Note 5 - Acquisition and Dispositions included in the notes to the audited consolidated financial statements included herein for more information.
We group our business activities into the following three operating segments to manage performance:
• Ethanol Production. Our ethanol production segment includes the production of ethanol, distillers grains, Ultra-High Protein and renewable corn oil at ten biorefineries in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Tennessee. At capacity, our facilities are capable of processing approximately 310 million bushels of corn per year and producing approximately 903 million gallons of ethanol, 2.2 million tons of distillers grains and Ultra-High Protein, and 300 million pounds of renewable corn oil, a low-carbon feedstock for biodiesel and renewable diesel. We are one of the largest ethanol producers in North America.
• Agribusiness and Energy Services. Our agribusiness and energy services segment includes grain procurement, with approximately 20.2 million bushels of grain storage capacity, and our commodity marketing business, which markets, sells and distributes the ethanol, distillers grains, Ultra-High Protein and renewable corn oil produced at our ethanol plants. We also market ethanol for a third-party producer as well as buy and sell ethanol, distillers grains, Ultra-High Protein, renewable corn oil, grain, natural gas and other commodities in various markets.
• Partnership. Our master limited partnership provides fuel storage and transportation services through owning, operating, developing and acquiring ethanol and fuel storage tanks, terminals, transportation assets and other related assets and businesses. The partnership’s assets include 24 ethanol storage facilities, two fuel terminal facilities and approximately 2,180 leased railcars.
Business Strategy
We believe that global demand for protein for human consumption will continue to rise, requiring larger amounts of high protein feed for animals and aquaculture. Our transformation capitalizes on this market insight, in an effort to capture higher co-product returns.
As part of our transformation to a value-added agricultural technology company, we began producing Ultra-High Protein using FQT's MSC™ technology in 2020 and are deploying this technology across various locations to help meet growing demand for protein feed ingredients and low-carbon renewable corn oil. As of December 31, 2023, we have installed and are operating FQT MSC™ technology at five of our biorefineries. Installation at additional biorefineries is expected over the course of the next few years, both at our other locations and across the broader industry. The biorefineries producing Ultra-
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High Protein, a feed ingredient with protein concentrations of 50% or greater and yeast concentrations of 25%, also increase the production of renewable corn oil and produce other higher-value products, such as post-MSC distillers grains. We successfully completed full scale 60% protein production runs using FQT's MSC™ system.
In September 2022, we broke ground at our biorefinery in Shenandoah, Iowa, as the first location to deploy FQT's CST™ at commercial scale, which is expected to begin commissioning in the first quarter of 2024. FQT CST™ allows for the production of both food and industrial grade low-carbon glucose and dextrose at a dry mill ethanol plant to target applications in food production, renewable chemicals and synthetic biology. We also anticipate modifying additional biorefineries to include FQT CST™ production capabilities to meet anticipated future customer demands.
Ethanol has become a valuable blend component that comprises approximately 10.1% of the domestic surface transportation gasoline supply with the potential to grow with higher blending rates. Additionally, government incentives to produce SAF through ATJ pathways could provide additional demand for low-CI ethanol for conversion to SAF.
SAF is a drop-in fuel, chemically identical to petroleum-based jet fuel and can be blended into the fuel supply at varying levels. There is an increasing focus on using this fuel to reduce the carbon footprint of air travel. SAF can be produced from vegetable and waste oil feedstocks, such as our renewable corn oil. Additionally, ATJ technologies are emerging and being commercialized that use low-CI ethanol as a feedstock to produce SAF. In January 2023, Green Plains, United Airlines and Tallgrass formed a joint venture, Blue Blade Energy, to develop and then commercialize a novel ATJ SAF technology.
As part of our carbon reduction strategy, we committed our seven biorefineries in Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota to carbon capture and sequestration projects through carbon pipeline transport, four with Summit Carbon Solutions and our three Nebraska biorefineries with another provider, which will lower GHG emissions through the capture of carbon dioxide at each of these biorefineries, significantly lowering their CI. We anticipate completion of our three Nebraska biorefinery carbon capture projects in 2025, and the Summit Carbon Solutions projects in 2026. In addition, we are collaborating with global partners to explore innovative options for carbon use, such as synthetic methane production at Madison and Obion. We intend to sequester the carbon from fermentation at Mount Vernon as well. Reducing the CI of our fuel ethanol could allow us to benefit from state and federal clean fuel programs, including LCFS and federal tax credits under the IRA, and could position our low-carbon ethanol as a potential feedstock for ATJ pathways to produce SAF.
In July 2023, we announced a technology collaboration with Equilon Enterprises LLC, which allows us to use FQT’s precision separation and processing technology with Shell Fiber Conversion Technology. The two technologies will combine fermentation, mechanical separation and processing, and fiber conversion into one platform. This has the potential to create a new process to liberate all available distillers corn oil currently bound in the fiber fraction of the corn kernel, generate cellulosic sugars for production of low-carbon ethanol, and enhance and expand available high protein to produce high-quality ingredients for global animal feed diets. Our collaboration is expected to complete the construction of a facility at Green Plains York and begin commissioning in early 2024.
Competitive Strengths
We are focused on managing commodity price risks, improving operational efficiencies and optimizing market opportunities to create an efficient platform with diversified income streams. Our competitive strengths include:
Disciplined Risk Management . Risk management is a core competency and we use a variety of risk management tools and hedging strategies in an effort to maintain a disciplined approach. Our internally developed operating margin management system allows us to monitor commodity price risk exposure in the spot market and on the forward curve at each of our operations and seeks to lock in favorable margins, when available, or if appropriate, temporarily reduce production levels during periods of compressed margins.
Technology Integration. Over our history, we have incorporated new technologies like renewable corn oil extraction and Selective Milling Technology™ into our manufacturing processes that have enabled us to run more efficiently and improve our financial results. We completed a modernization and upgrade initiative at four facilities in 2021 and two facilities in 2022, resulting in improved operational reliability and reductions in natural gas, electricity and water usage, decreasing our carbon footprint. Through our ownership of FQT and other partnerships, we are currently undergoing a number of initiatives to further improve margins.
Our transformation into a sustainable ingredient producer continues centering around FQT's MSC™ and CST™ technologies. These technologies enhance our ability to produce value-added ingredients, while expanding renewable corn oil
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yields.
FQT provides additional intellectual property rights, including those aimed at developing and implementing proven, value-added agriculture, food and industrial biotechnology systems, CST™ and MSC™. We continue to evaluate additional technological opportunities to expand our capabilities and product offerings in the coming years.
Proven Leadership Team . Our senior leadership team has specific expertise across all of our businesses, including plant operations and management, commodity markets and risk management, quality assurance, quality control, ingredient nutrition, marketing and innovation and ethanol marketing and distribution. Our leadership team’s level of operational and financial expertise is essential to successfully executing our business strategies.
Operational Excellence . Our facilities are staffed with experienced personnel who are encouraged to share operational knowledge and expertise across business segments and locations. We continue to focus on making incremental operational improvements to enhance performance using real-time production data and systems to monitor our operations and optimize performance.
Risk Management and Hedging Activities
Our margins are highly dependent on commodity prices, particularly for ethanol, corn, distillers grains, Ultra-High Protein, renewable corn oil and natural gas. Since market price fluctuations among these commodities are not always correlated, ethanol production has been and may continue to be unprofitable at times. We use a variety of risk management tools and hedging strategies to monitor real-time operating price risk exposure at each of our operations to obtain favorable margins, when available.
We use forward contracts to sell a portion of our ethanol, distillers grains, Ultra-High Protein and renewable corn oil production or buy some of the corn, natural gas, or ethanol we need to partially offset commodity price volatility. We also engage in other hedging transactions involving exchange-traded futures contracts for corn, natural gas, ethanol, soybean meal, soybean oil and other agricultural and energy commodities. The financial impact of these activities depends on the price of the commodities involved and our ability to physically receive or deliver those commodities.
Hedging arrangements expose us to risk of financial loss when the counterparty defaults on its contract or, in the case of exchange-traded contracts, when the expected differential between the price of the underlying commodity and physical commodity changes. Hedging activities can result in losses when a position is purchased in a declining market or sold in a rising market. Hedging losses may be offset by a decreased cash price for corn and natural gas and an increased cash price for ethanol, distillers grains, Ultra-High Protein and renewable corn oil. Depending on the circumstance, we vary the amount of hedging or other risk mitigation strategies we undertake and sometimes choose not to engage in hedging transactions at all.
Recent Developments
The following is a summary of our significant recent developments. Additional information about these items can be found elsewhere in this report or in previous reports filed with the SEC.
Strategic Review
The Board of Directors is initiating a formal review process to evaluate strategic alternatives for the company. This comprehensive evaluation is intended to explore a broad range of opportunities for the company to enhance long-term shareholder value, including, but not limited to, acquisitions, divestitures, a merger or sale, partnerships and financings.
There is no deadline or definitive timetable for completion of the strategic review process, and there can be no assurances that the process will result in a transaction or any other outcome. We do not intend to make any further public comment regarding the review until the Board has approved a specific action or otherwise determines that additional disclosure is appropriate or required.
Cooperation Agreement
On February 6, 2024, we entered into a Cooperation Agreement with a large shareholder whereby we agreed to announce our strategic review and the large shareholder agreed to certain standstill and voting obligations.
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The Partnership Merger
On September 16, 2023, the company entered into a Merger Agreement to acquire all of the publicly held common units of the partnership not already owned by the company and its affiliates. On January 9, 2024, the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement were completed. Refer to Note 5 - Merger and Dispositions included in the notes to the audited consolidated financial statements included herein for more information.
Disposition of Atkinson Ethanol Plant
On September 7, 2023, we completed the disposition of our Atkinson ethanol plant and sale of certain related assets and transfer of certain related liabilities. The divested assets were reported within our ethanol production, agribusiness and energy services and partnership segments. The company recorded a pretax gain on the sale of the Atkinson plant of $4.1 million recorded within corporate activities. Refer to Note 5 - Merger and Dispositions included in the notes to the audited consolidated financial statements included herein for more information.
Wood River Incident
On April 17, 2023, during routine maintenance on a whole stillage tank, we experienced an explosion at our Wood River, Nebraska facility. There was an operating loss of approximately $9.5 million in 2023 related to this incident, after insurance proceeds.
Operating Segments
Ethanol Production Segment
Industry Overview. Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, is a colorless liquid produced by fermenting carbohydrates found in a number of different types of grains, such as corn, wheat and sorghum, and other cellulosic matter found in plants. Most of the ethanol produced in the United States is made from corn, which can be handled efficiently and is in greater supply than other grains. Corn contains large quantities of carbohydrates that convert into glucose more easily than most other kinds of biomass. According to the USDA, on average, a 56 pound bushel of corn produces approximately 2.9 gallons of ethanol, 17 pounds of dried distillers grains and 0.6 pounds of corn oil. Outside of the United States, sugarcane is the primary feedstock used to produce ethanol.
Ethanol is a significant component of the biofuels industry, which includes all transportation fuels derived from renewable biological materials. Ethanol is an excellent oxygenate and source of octane. When added to petroleum-based transportation fuels, oxygenates reduce vehicle emissions. Ethanol is the most economical oxygenate and source of octane available on the market and its production costs are competitive with gasoline.
Ethanol Plants. We operate ten ethanol plants, located in six states, that produce ethanol, distillers grains, Ultra-High Protein and renewable corn oil.
Plant Location Plant Production
Capacity (mmgy)
Central City, Nebraska (1)
116
Fairmont, Minnesota 119
Madison, Illinois 90
Mount Vernon, Indiana (1)
90
Obion, Tennessee (1)
120
Otter Tail, Minnesota 55
Shenandoah, Iowa (1)
82
Superior, Iowa
60
Wood River, Nebraska (1)
121
York, Nebraska 50
Total 903
(1) Produces Ultra-High Protein.
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Our business is directly affected by the supply and demand for ethanol and other fuels in the markets served by our assets. Miles driven typically increase during the spring and summer months related to vacation travel, followed closely by the fall season due to holiday travel.
Corn Feedstock and Ethanol Production. Our plants use corn as feedstock in a dry mill ethanol production process. Each of our plants requires on average approximately 31 million bushels of corn annually, depending on its production capacity. The price and availability of corn are subject to significant fluctuations driven by a number of factors that affect commodity prices in general, including crop conditions, weather, governmental programs, freight costs and global demand. Ethanol producers are generally unable to pass increased corn costs to customers.
Our corn supply is obtained primarily from local markets. We use cash and forward purchase contracts with grain producers and elevators to buy corn. We maintain direct relationships with local farmers, grain elevators and cooperatives, which serve as our primary sources of grain feedstock for all ten of our ethanol plants. This allows us to purchase much of the corn we need directly from farmers throughout the year. Each of our plants is also situated on rail lines or has other logistical solutions to access corn supplies from other regions of the country should local supplies become insufficient.
Corn is received at the plant by truck or rail then weighed and unloaded into a receiving building. Grain storage facilities are used to inventory grain that is passed through a scalper to remove rocks and debris prior to processing. The corn is then transported to a hammer mill where it is ground into flour and conveyed into a slurry tank for enzymatic processing. Water, heat and enzymes are added to convert the complex starch molecules into simpler carbohydrates. The slurry is heated to reduce the potential of microbial contamination and pumped into a liquefaction tank where additional enzymes are added. Next, the grain slurry is pumped into fermenters, where yeast, enzymes, and nutrients are added and the fermentation process is started. A beer column, within the distillation system, separates the alcohol from the spent grain mash. The alcohol is dehydrated to 200-proof alcohol and either pumped into a holding tank and blended with approximately 2% denaturant as it is pumped into finished product storage tanks, or marketed as industrial or undenatured ethanol.
Distillers Grains. The spent grain mash is pumped from the beer column into a decanter-type centrifuge for dewatering. The water, or thin stillage, is pumped from the centrifuge into an evaporator, where it is concentrated into a thick syrup. The solids, or wet cake, that exit the centrifuge are conveyed to the dryer system and dried at varying temperatures to produce distillers grains. Syrup is reapplied to the wet cake prior to drying to provide additional nutrients. Distillers grains, the principal co-product of the ethanol production process, are used as mid-protein, high-energy animal feed and marketed to the dairy, beef, swine and poultry industries.
We can produce three forms of distillers grains, depending on the number of times the solids are passed through the dryer system:
• wet distillers grains, which contain approximately 65% to 70% moisture, have a shelf life of approximately three days and is therefore sold to dairies or feedlots within the immediate vicinity of our plants;
• modified wet distillers grains, which is dried further to approximately 50% to 55% moisture, have a shelf life of approximately three weeks and are marketed to regional dairies and feedlots; and
• dried distillers grains, which have been dried more extensively to approximately 10% to 12% moisture, have an almost indefinite shelf life and may be stored, sold and shipped to any market.
Ultra-High Protein . Ultra-High Protein is corn fermented protein produced by further processing of the spent grain mash from the beer column. The spent grain is processed using FQT’s MSC™ technology, which contains a series of screening equipment to remove fiber from the spent grain which is sent to the distillers grain dryer. The remaining product is washed and clarified into a wet protein stream which is dried in a ring dryer to produce Ultra-High Protein meal with protein concentrations of 50% or greater.
Renewable Corn Oil. Renewable corn oil systems extract non-edible renewable corn oil from the thin stillage evaporation process immediately before the production of distillers grains. Renewable corn oil is produced by processing the syrup through a decanter-style, or disk-stack, centrifuge. The centrifuges separate the relatively light renewable corn oil from the heavier components of the syrup. Across our entire platform, we extract on average approximately 1.0 pound of renewable corn oil per bushel of corn used to produce ethanol. Industrial uses for renewable corn oil are primarily as a feedstock for renewable diesel and biodiesel. Additionally, it is also used as a livestock feed additive.
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Natural Gas . Depending on production parameters, our ethanol plants use on average approximately 27,500 BTUs of natural gas per gallon of production. We have service agreements to acquire the natural gas we need and transport the gas through pipelines to our plants.
Electricity . Our plants require on average approximately 0.9 kilowatt hours of electricity per gallon of production. Local utilities supply the necessary electricity to all of our ethanol plants.
Water . While some of our plants satisfy a majority of their water requirements from wells located on their respective properties, each plant also obtains drinkable water from local municipal water sources. Each facility either uses city water or operates a filtration system to purify the well water that is used for its operations. Local municipalities supply all of the necessary water for our plants that do not have onsite wells. Most of the water used in an ethanol plant is recycled in the production process.
Agribusiness and Energy Services Segment
Our agribusiness and energy services segment includes grain storage at our ethanol plants of approximately 20.2 million bushels, detailed in the following table:
Facility Location On-Site Grain Storage Capacity
(thousands of bushels)
Central City, Nebraska 1,400
Fairmont, Minnesota 1,611
Madison, Illinois 1,015
Mount Vernon, Indiana 1,034
Obion, Tennessee 8,168
Otter Tail, Minnesota 628
Shenandoah, Iowa 886
Superior, Iowa 1,770
Wood River, Nebraska 3,293
York, Nebraska 363
Total 20,168
We buy bulk grain, primarily corn, from area producers, and provide grain drying and storage services to those producers. The grain is used as feedstock for our ethanol plants. Bulk grain commodities are traded on commodity exchanges and inventory values are affected by changes in these markets. To mitigate risks related to market fluctuations from purchase and sale commitments of grain, as well as grain held in inventory, we enter into exchange-traded futures and options contracts that function as economic and designated accounting hedges at times.
Seasonality is present within our agribusiness operations. The fall harvest period typically results in higher handling margins and stronger financial results during the fourth quarter of each year.
Through Green Plains Trade, we market the ethanol we and a third party produce to local, regional, national and international customers. We also purchase ethanol from independent producers for pricing arbitrage. We sell to various markets under sales agreements with integrated energy companies; retailers, traders and resellers in the United States and buyers for export to Brazil, Canada, Philippines, India, Europe and other international markets. Under these agreements, ethanol is priced under both fixed and indexed pricing arrangements.
We market distillers grains and high protein ingredients to local, domestic and international markets through Green Plains Trade. The bulk of our demand is delivered to geographic regions that do not have significant local corn, distillers grains or high protein ingredients production. We sell to international markets indirectly through exporters. Access to diversified markets allows us to sell product to customers offering the highest net price.
Also, through Green Plains Trade, our renewable corn oil is sold primarily to renewable diesel and biodiesel plants and, to a lesser extent, feedlot and poultry markets. We transport our renewable corn oil by truck to locations in a close proximity to our ethanol plants primarily in the southeastern and midwestern regions of the United States. We also transport renewable corn oil by rail and barges to national markets as well as to exporters for shipment on vessels to international markets.
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Through Green Plains Trade, we provide marketing services of natural gas to our ethanol plants and to other third parties including the procurement of both the pipeline capacity and natural gas. We also enhance the value by aggregating volumes at various storage facilities which can be sold to either the plants or various intermediary markets and end markets.
Our railcar fleet consists of approximately 680 leased hopper cars to transport distillers grains and Ultra-High Protein, 70 leased hopper cars to transport corn and approximately 150 leased tank cars to transport renewable corn oil. The initial terms of the lease contracts are for periods up to five years and the weighted average remaining lease terms on these cars was approximately 2 years as of December 31, 2023.
Partnership Segment
Our partnership segment provides fuel storage and transportation services through (i) 24 ethanol storage facilities located at or near our ten ethanol plants, (ii) two fuel terminal facilities located near major rail lines, and (iii) a leased railcar fleet and other transportation assets.
Transportation and Delivery. Most of our ethanol plants are situated near major highways or rail lines to ensure efficient product movement. We are able to move product from our ethanol plants to bulk terminals via truck, railcar or barge. We also manage the logistics and transportation requirements of our customers to improve our fleet’s efficiency and reduce operating costs.
Deliveries within 150 miles of our plants and the partnership’s fuel terminal facilities are generally transported by truck. Deliveries to distant markets are shipped using major U.S. rail carriers that can switch cars to other major railroads, allowing our plants to ship product throughout the United States and to international export terminals.
As of December 31, 2023, the partnership’s leased railcar fleet consisted of approximately 2,180 railcars with an aggregate capacity of 65.4 mmg. We expect the partnership’s railcar volumetric capacity to fluctuate over the normal course of business as the existing railcar leases expire and we enter into or acquire new railcar leases.
Terminal and Distribution Services. Ethanol is transported from the partnership’s terminals to third-party terminal racks where it is blended with gasoline and transferred to the loading rack for delivery by truck to retail gas stations. The partnership owns and operates fuel holding tanks and terminals, and provides terminal services and logistics solutions to markets that do not ha ve efficient access to renewable fuels. The partnership owns and operates fuel terminals at two locations in two states with combined storage capacity of approximately 6.7 mmg and throughput capacity of approximately 480 mmgy. We also have 24 ethanol storage facilities located at or near our ten ethanol plants with a combined storage capacity of approxima tely 23.1 mm g to support current ethanol production capacity of approximately 903 mmgy.
Facility Location Storage Capacity
(thousands of gallons)
Fuel Terminals
Birmingham, Alabama - Unit Train Terminal 6,542
Collins, Mississippi 180
Ethanol Plants
Central City, Nebraska 2,250
Fairmont, Minnesota 3,124
Madison, Illinois 2,855
Mount Vernon, Indiana 2,855
Obion, Tennessee 3,000
Otter Tail, Minnesota 2,000
Shenandoah, Iowa 1,524
Superior, Iowa 1,238
Wood River, Nebraska 3,124
York, Nebraska 1,100
Total 29,792
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For more information about our segments, refer to Item 7. - Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in this report.
Our Competition
Domestic Ethanol Competitors
We are one of the largest consolidated owners of ethanol plants in the United States. We compete with other domestic ethanol producers in a highly fragmented industry. Our competitors also include plants owned by farmers, cooperatives, oil refiners and retail fuel operators. These competitors may continue to operate their plants even when market conditions are not favorable due to the benefits realized from their other operations.
As of December 31, 2023, the top four producers accounted for approximately 40% of the domestic production capacity with production capacities ranging from 903 mmgy to 3,005 mmgy. Demand for corn from ethanol plants and other corn consumers exists in all areas and regions in which we operate. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, there were 115 operational plants in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Tennessee, which are the states where we have production facilities as of December 31, 2023. The largest concentration of operational plants is located in Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, where approximately 50% of all operational production capacity is located.
Foreign Ethanol Competitors
We also compete globally with production from other countries. Brazil is the second largest ethanol producer in the world after the United States. Brazil primarily produces ethanol made from sugarcane, which may be less expensive to produce than ethanol made from corn depending on feedstock prices. Under the RFS, certain parties are obligated to meet an advanced biofuel standard, and Brazilian sugarcane ethanol qualifies as an advanced biofuel. Any significant additional ethanol production capacity, or reduced demand for gasoline, could create excess supply in world markets, resulting in lower ethanol prices throughout the world, including the United States.
Other Competition
Alternative fuels, gasoline oxygenates and ethanol production methods are continually under development. Ethanol production technologies also continue to evolve. We anticipate changes could occur primarily in the area of cellulosic ethanol, or from biodigesters at landfills or livestock production facilities. Since all of our plants are designed as single-feedstock facilities, adapting our plants for a different feedstock or process system would require additional capital investments and retooling which could be cost prohibitive, and would require new RFS pathways to be approved by the EPA. Our distillers grains and high protein feed ingredients compete against other feed ingredients including soybean meal, canola meal, ground corn, corn gluten meal and distillers grains from other ethanol producers domestically and abroad. Our distillers corn oil competes against vegetable oils such as soybean oil, canola oil, and to some extent palm oil, as well as waste feedstocks including used cooking oil, animal fats and tallow.
Regulatory Matters
Government Ethanol Programs and Policies
We are sensitive to governmental policies that impact ethanol, feedstocks for renewable fuels and decarbonization, which in turn may impact the volume of ethanol and other ingredients we produce. Legislation and regulatory rule making at the federal, state and international level can impact us across all business segments. Refer to Item 7. - Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in this report for a detailed discussion of these topics.
Environmental and Other Regulation
Our operations are subject to environmental regulations, including those that govern the handling and release of ethanol, crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbon materials. Compliance with existing and anticipated environmental laws and regulations may increase our overall cost of doing business, including capital costs to construct, maintain, operate and upgrade equipment and facilities. Our business may also be impacted by government policies, such as tariffs, duties, subsidies, import and export restrictions and outright embargos. We employ maintenance and operations personnel at each of our facilities, which are regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
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The U.S. ethanol industry relies heavily on tank cars to deliver its product to market. In 2015, the DOT finalized the Enhanced Tank Car Standard and Operational Controls for High-Hazard and Flammable Trains, or DOT specification 117, which established a schedule to retrofit or replace older tank cars that carry crude oil and ethanol, braking standards intended to reduce the severity of accidents and new operational protocols. The rule has increased the lease costs for railcars in the short term and may increase the lease costs long term. Our partnership's fleet is DOT 117 compliant.
Human Capital Resources
The attraction, retention and development of employees is critical to our success. We accomplish this, in part, by our competitive compensation practices, training initiatives, and growth opportunities within the company. On December 31, 2023, we had 921 full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal employees, including 170 employees at our corporate office in Omaha, Nebraska.
Workforce Health and Safety
We take workplace safety very seriously and our robust safety program means that we are constantly evaluating our safety protocols in an effort to keep our facilities safe for our workers.
We continue to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including resurgences and variants of the virus, on our teammates and within our operations, and proactively modify or adopt new practices to promote their health and safety.
Compensation and Benefits
As part of our compensation philosophy, we believe that we must offer and maintain market competitive compensation and benefit programs for our employees in order to attract and retain superior talent. In addition to competitive base wages, additional programs include the 2019 Equity Incentive Plan, a company-matched 401(k) Plan, healthcare and insurance benefits, flexible spending accounts, paid time off, bonding leave, and employee assistance programs.
Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to our continued efforts to increase diversity and foster an inclusive work environment that supports the workforce and the communities we serve. We recruit the best qualified employees regardless of gender, ethnicity or other protected traits and it is our policy to fully comply with all laws applicable to discrimination in the workplace.
Available Information
Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports are available on our website at www.gpreinc.com shortly after we file or furnish the information with the SEC. You can also find the charters of our audit, compensation and nominating committees, as well as our code of ethics in the corporate governance section of our website. The information found on our website is not part of this or any other report we file with or furnish to the SEC. For more information on our partnership, please visit www.greenplainspartners.com . Alternatively, investors may visit the SEC website at www.sec.gov to access our reports, proxy and information statements filed with the SEC.