MINNEAPOLIS (DTN) -- John Deere's 8R series ethanol-powered tractor has logged 17-hour days in Kentucky farm fields and there's plenty more testing to come for the 9.0-liter E98-powered machinery, the company's head of renewable fuels told ethanol producers at the American Coalition for Ethanol's conference in Minneapolis last week.

Deere prototypes are headed to farm fields in Nebraska and Illinois this fall, according to Nate Green, director of biofuels for the company, as the equipment giant moves closer to commercial production of a machine Deere hopes will create a large-scale market for corn ethanol.

Green said there's four prototypes running in the U.S. and a couple more in Brazil. Last year Deere sent a few of the ethanol tractors into fields in Illinois and Iowa, as well.

"And the goal from the outset when we started the program on the engineering side of development in 2020, was to have a tractor that obviously consumed ethanol but didn't compromise on things that folks buy John Deere equipment for," Green said.

"And that's in particular on the tractor side power, so we delivered diesel-like power and torque."

Just days ahead of the ACE conference the tractor was in Kentucky and performed well during harvest, he said.

"And I would say generally that's what we found is there have been minor issues, but the tractor is running well," Green said. "And it's doing real work."

Before more prototypes are sent to Nebraska and Illinois, Green said a prototype was headed to the Farm Progress show in Boone, Iowa, starting on Sept. 1.

"I would say just generally, this is the earliest prototype that John Deere's ever been out with a product," he said.

"Part of the reason we did that is to shine a spotlight on the ethanol industry again, to demonstrate what's possible."

The technology, which is still four to five years away from a commercial launch, Green said, has a key trade-off when compared to traditional diesel-operated machines: fuel range.

"Ethanol that burns in the engine, you get about 1.72 gallons of ethanol that's burned compared to a gallon of diesel fuel," he said.

"So, if you think about that tractor, it has a 192-gallon tank. On a diesel fill up, you'll probably get a full day in the field on that tank. You'll probably have to fill up about halfway through if you run a full day on ethanol."

Green said state corn grower groups have invested in the project alongside Deere to create a fuel supply chain needed to run the prototypes, while on-farm ethanol storage and distribution are active areas of development.

"Deere, we want to produce this product, but we also, in order to invest a significant amount of money to set up a manufacturing line to produce it, need a clear demand signal," he said.

B30 BIODIESEL PROGRAM

In August 2025, John Deere became the first original equipment manufacturer to certify all Tier 4 engines for B30 biodiesel.

Green said the company launched a follow-on farmer program this spring during which participating farms ran all their equipment on B30 during planting.

"We'll be dropping alongside our panel at Farm Progress show a five-minute YouTube video that I encourage folks to seek out," Green said.

"The punchline is, one, work with your fuel supply and do it right. But two, you can have the same diesel-like performance and experience incorporating B30."

In addition, Green said Clean Fuels Alliance America is expected to publish best-practices guidelines for using higher biodiesel blends on the farm in conjunction with Deere's efforts.

John Deere also is in the process of converting five of its 300 Class 8 semi-trucks that haul parts through its distribution network, to run on B100 biodiesel, Green said.

"We'll have a mobile fuel unit at our parts distribution center in Milan, Illinois," he said. "Those trucks will roll off the upgrade line here in September. We're going to have some type of -- call it the ignition event -- in November."

BIOFUELS COCKTAIL RESEARCH

Recently a multi-year research project launched at Purdue University has expanded into a formal consortium of sorts, Green said, to include Deere, Cummins, Poet LLC, Ag Processing Inc. and others, to explore the feasibility of using ethanol and biodiesel blends together.

"This project really, I love it because it brings ethanol and biodiesel together," Green said.

"So, a lot of folks have tried to blend in ethanol into diesel. It hasn't worked out very well. When you blend ethanol with biodiesel, biodiesel essentially acts as the carrier for the ethanol. It's fully miscible and allows blending into diesel."

Green said the project is working to eliminate the conventional diesel aspect of machine operations with renewable diesel.

"That's a few years off from being ready, but we're really excited to work with a cross-functional group from the industry," he said.

Read more on DTN:

"John Deere Displays E98 8R Tractor," https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @DTNeeley

(c) Copyright 2026 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.