The Carbon Gold Rush

Summary

---

Drilled – The Carbon Gold Rush

Host: Amy Westervelt
Release Date: May 12, 2026
Podcast: Drilled (Produced by Pushkin Industries)

---

Episode Overview

In this episode of Drilled, Amy Westervelt investigates the global ambitions of Bruce Rastetter, a powerful figure in U.S. agribusiness, and his role in exporting American-style corn ethanol and carbon capture projects to Brazil. The narrative examines the economic and political underpinnings of so-called “green” fuel initiatives, revealing how they serve industry interests at the expense of real climate solutions. The episode dives into the story of how Rastetter—facing fierce opposition at home—has sought new opportunity (and admiration) in Brazil, turning Lucas do Rio Verde into a template for a new “carbon gold rush.”

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Midwest Carbon Express and Summit Carbon Solutions

[01:41–06:16]

• In September 2025, Brazilian officials visited North Dakota to review a corn ethanol carbon capture project led by Summit Carbon Solutions—a company co-founded by Bruce Rastetter.
• The project pipeline aimed to capture CO₂ from ethanol plants (ostensibly making ethanol "greener") and pipe it underground, largely for enhanced oil recovery.
• The narrative critiques the emissions accounting: "If you tilted your head and squinted a bit, that made it a climate solution. The American company… had a lot riding on [Brazilians] believing carbon capture connected to ethanol was a great green success story." – Amy Westervelt [01:56]
• The project faces major bipartisan opposition across Iowa and North Dakota, managing to unite far-left and far-right; landowners and activists resist its intrusion and false climate claims.

2. Bruce Rastetter: From Iowa Kingpin to Global Carbon Czar

[06:30–07:45]

• Rastetter’s background: from pig farming to a giant in corn and ethanol, wielding deep political and economic influence.
• As explained by Jess Mazur (Sierra Club, Iowa), “He’s really, really good at being able to avoid ever having to be in the public. He doesn’t get interviewed. He doesn’t take media requests. Kind of secretive.” [05:46]
• Rastetter's strategy: leverage U.S. subsidies (like those in the Inflation Reduction Act, [06:16]) to tap into new markets—specifically, sustainable aviation fuel contingent on carbon capture.
  • “The Inflation Reduction act contains some really incredible things for our shareholders. It contains sustainable aviation fuel. We think that's an incredible part of decarbonizing the planet..." – Bruce Rastetter [06:16]
• He extends the American ethanol model to Brazil, seeking new acclaim and markets.

3. Lucas do Rio Verde: The Engineered Agropolis

[08:12–12:13]

• Lucas do Rio Verde, Brazil, is the “showpiece” of American-Brazilian ag business: vast monoculture fields, rapid urbanization, and an economy built for and by agriculture.
• Described with both awe and irony: “The town is a fiction designed and built by the government to impose development on this region. Lucas was entirely created to serve agriculture and its owners.” – Felipe Sabrina [10:37]
• Signs of corporate influence abound: the giant pig statue in lederhosen (a nod to the German agricultural immigrant legacy) and American agribusiness executives as local benefactors.

4. Exported Corporate Power and Greenwashing

[12:13–16:22]

• The city’s apparent prosperity (good hospitals, infrastructure) is showcased as proof of success, further legitimizing corporate involvement.
• Bruce Rastetter has a maternity hospital wing named after him, blending philanthropy with reputation-laundering: “Now...a new wing in the hospital in this Brazilian farm town was being named after this guy. How did that happen?” – Amy Westervelt [13:36]
• The episode critiques how industrial ag wraps its interests in the language of climate solutions, without addressing core climate harms: land grabs, monoculture, and resource depletion.

5. Historical and Political Roots of Land Transformation in Mato Grosso

[18:54–21:00]

• The colonization of central Brazil was orchestrated in the 1960s–70s with government-driven settlement, displacing indigenous communities.
• Lucas do Rio Verde is a “company town,” planned to serve export agriculture, its growth built on the back of this state-led land transformation.

6. The Iowa-Brazil Pipeline: Connections and Deal-Making

[20:58–28:03]

• Key players: The Franz brothers (Brazilian agribusiness) and their connections to Iowa (via former Governor Terry Branstad) bring Rastetter into the Brazilian scene.
  • “Terry Branstad...the governor of Iowa...Powell says they all went to soccer games together a lot...and it was Branstad who introduced him to Bruce Rastetter.” [21:00]
• Three versions of how Rastetter's Brazil venture began:
  1. Brazilian account: personal connections and land deals.
  2. Rastetter’s account: seeking new global opportunities after selling U.S. ethanol interests.
  3. Consultant Corey Melby's account: as the fixer, he recalls brokering land and ethanol mill deals, highlighting how U.S. entrepreneurs were seeking new frontiers for expansion.
  • “So I was telling Bruce and the guys at the time, you know, I've got friends out here that want to get [an ethanol mill].” – Corey Melby [26:54]
• Their collaboration symbolizes “cycle three” of Mato Grosso’s ag evolution: from frontier and deforestation (cycle one), to soy and corn (cycle two), to industrial “value-added” ventures like ethanol (cycle three). [27:43]

7. Pushback and Disillusionment at Home

[28:03–29:31]

• Rastetter faces intense resistance in Iowa, where his land deals and carbon projects garner suspicion and animosity.
  • “He has become a dirty word in Iowa. That’s just what he does...whether it was in Iowa...or now globally. He just keeps pushing his business advancement. Right. It's all about his corporate profits.” – Jess Mazur [28:20]
• Irony: While ostracized at home, in Brazil he’s celebrated as a visionary, further incentivizing his pivot to international (and less contested) markets.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Greenwashing Critique:

  • “As a longtime climate reporter, I keep waiting for people to stop calling corn ethanol green. Its current footprint is similar to regular old gas.” – Amy Westervelt [05:09]

• On Corporate Philanthropy:

  • “If Lucas has a good hospital, no one can say that the politicians or businessmen running things here are bad. That goes double for anything that's focused on women and children. So a maternity ward checks a lot of boxes.” – Amy Westervelt [15:04]

• On Economic and Social Transformation:

  • “Lucas is the city of opportunities…more than 2 million tons of grain per year…one of the fastest growing cities in Brazil.” – [Narration of municipal promo video, [09:49]]
  • “The first time I visited, it shocked me to see massive crops right next to people’s homes. The town is a fiction designed and built by the government to impose development on this region.” – Felipe Sabrina [10:37]

• Deal-Making and Expansionism:

  • “We would love to get going on some land deals.” – Corey Melby, recounting Rastetter’s approach [26:12]
  • “Three years to close on this damn farm. But that farm purchase then opened the door...hey, let’s build an ethanol mill in Lucas.” – Corey Melby [27:20]

• Cycle of Industry:

  • “Cycle one is deforestation in cattle. Cycle two is...so cycle 2.5 is soy corn...cycle three now is industrial or added value.” – Corey Melby [27:43]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:41] – Introduction to the Brazilian delegation's visit and Summit Carbon Solutions
• [06:16] – Inflation Reduction Act: New subsidies fuel a second ethanol boom
• [08:12] – Lucas do Rio Verde: The city engineered for agribusiness
• [10:37] – The surreal layout and function of Lucas, and symbols of corporate ag
• [12:13] – Everyday life under the ag-industrial regime; corporate philanthropy
• [18:54] – Historical context: Government-driven “colonization” of Mato Grosso
• [21:00] – The Franz brothers meet Iowa: networking and the spread of the ethanol model
• [26:12] – Corey Melby details U.S.-Brazilian dealmaking
• [27:43] – Mato Grosso’s evolution: cycles of industry and land use
• [28:03] – Rastetter’s mixed legacies in the U.S. versus Brazil

---

Episode Tone & Language

Amy Westervelt reports with investigative curiosity, biting irony, and skepticism about industry motives. Local journalist Felipe Sabrina adds ground-level perspective and cultural context from Brazil, blending both concern and fascination. The tone is unapologetically critical of agri-business greenwashing and the global repetition of failed “solutions.”

---

Conclusion

The Carbon Gold Rush unpacks how climate policies and financial incentives in the U.S. have fueled a new pattern of transnational agricultural expansion and pseudo-green initiatives—benefitting powerful industry players like Bruce Rastetter. The episode reveals the recursive cycle of export-driven agribusiness, repackaging industrial-scale land use and carbon schemes as “climate solutions,” often backed by calculated philanthropy and local co-optation. It poses the central tension: who truly benefits from the carbon gold rush, and what genuine climate progress is being left behind?

---

Transcript

[Amy Westervelt]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[Bruce Rastetter]

Hey everyone, it's Kalpen.

[Kalpen (Kalpen Modi)]

I'm inviting you to join the best

[Bruce Rastetter]

sounding book club you've ever heard with my podcast, Hearsay, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. Every episode, I nerd out with amazing guests and dive into the best new audiobooks available on Audible.

[Amy Westervelt]

It's the book club for your ears.

[Bruce Rastetter]

Listen to Irsay, the Audible and I Heart Audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jacob Goldstein]

When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at O D O o dot com.

[Kalpen (Kalpen Modi)]

That's O D O o dot com Service opens doors. And at American Military University, it can open doors for the whole family. If you have a loved one who served in the military, you may qualify for reduced tuition. AMU offers flexible online programs designed to fit your schedule so you can keep moving forward wherever life takes you. Learn more at amu Apus Edu Military Open doors to the future for you and your family with the help of the American Military University.

[Amy Westervelt]

Pushkin. In early September 2025, a handful of Brazilian government officials headed to North Dakota on a mission. It was a technical mission. They were there to see a shiny new green technology in action. The idea behind this new technology was simple. When you turn corn into ethanol, it generates carbon dioxide. And that's a problem if you're trying to be a green fuel. But now people from Iowa to North Dakota were capturing that carbon dioxide, storing it, and selling it. Never mind that they were selling it to people who would inject it underground to get more oil out. Some of it would surely still stay underground. And if you tilted your head and squinted a bit, that made it a climate solution. The American company selling the Brazilians on this idea had a lot riding on these officials, believing that carbon capture connected to ethanol was a great green success story. Win win for industry and the environment. An American dream they could take home to Brazil. But had the visiting bureaucrats scanned the local newspapers, they might have found a different story. If you live in Iowa, your land, your water, and your voice could all be at risk, thanks to a man named Bruce Rastetter. You know, essentially paying him to capture CO2 at ethanol plants and then shipping it across private land and public land and then disposing of it somewhere many states away. On September 2, the Brazilian contingent met with an Iowa company called Summit Carbon Solutions. Summit has been trying, trying for years to build a carbon capture pipeline to connect dozens of ethanol plants from Iowa to North Dakota. It's called the Midwest Carbon Express Project. Harold Hamm, who controls many of North Dakota's oil fields and is an energy advisor to President Trump, is a major investor in the company. Bruce Rastetter is the company's co founder. He's also founder and executive chairman of its parent company, Summit Agricultural Group. For all their cheerleading of the project to visitors, the Summit pipeline is years behind schedule and facing multiple political and legal roadblocks. In fact, it's managed to do what almost no politician, issue or campaign has been able to do in the US for years. United far left and far right populace. People from both sides hate this pipeline. For Raz Dutter, it's not the first time he's faced opposition, especially in his home state of Iowa. Anyone who remotely follows politics or agriculture, you say Rastetter, you're going to get a response. Jess Mazur is the conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club, Iowa. For Jess, the carbon pipeline was not the first time she dealt with Bruce Rastetter. They know who it is and they go, oh, you know, that guy did this, or that guy put a factory farm near my house, or he's the one that, you know, got Iowa State in trouble. So I think everyone's got an opinion of him. And he's really, really good at being able to avoid ever having to be in the public. He doesn't get interviewed. He doesn't take media requests. Kind of secretive. He lives out in the middle of nowhere in Hardin County, Iowa. Ras Nutter got his start as a big hog farmer. From there, it wasn't a big leap to growing corn. And then, like a lot of corn growers, that led quickly to getting into the corn ethanol business. As a longtime climate reporter, I keep waiting for people to stop calling corn ethanol green. Its current footprint is similar to regular old gas. It requires around 30 times as much land as solar, plus us lots of water and chemical pesticides and fertilizers. But industrial agriculture gets loads of subsidies from it, so they're always finding a way to keep it Alive. And in 2022, Congress handed it its latest lifeline.

[Bruce Rastetter]

The Inflation Reduction act contains some really incredible things for our shareholders. It contains sustainable aviation fuel. We think that's an incredible Part of decarbonizing the planet, the Inflation Reduction Act.

[Amy Westervelt]

Biden's big climate policy created a whole new revenue stream for the corn ethanol guys. Now they could sell to airlines, but only if they embraced carbon capture. Bruce Rastetter to the rescue.

[Bruce Rastetter]

So I think without continuing to attain new markets, the ethanol industry is in jeopardy. So that's what lowering carbon scores this project on the pipeline is about. With 34 ethanol plants across the upper Midwest, but in particular, Iowa.

[Amy Westervelt]

Summit Carbon Solutions still talks about the project today as a way to open up new markets for Iowa corn farmers. So the company was caught off guard when people across multiple states began organizing against the Midwest Carbon Express. And it quickly became a big problem because Rastetter was not just the ethanol kingpin of Iowa, his company was also the majority owner of a Brazilian ag company, FS Fueling Sustainability. And he'd helped to make corn ethanol a thing in Brazil, too. Now Summit is trying to make carbon capture happen there, too. Welcome to Drilled Season 15 Carbon Cowboys. I'm Amy Westervelt, and this season we've partnered with the amazing reporters at the Intercept Brazil to learn more about what Rastetter is doing down there.

[Felipe Sabrina]

I'm Felipe Sabrina with the Intercept of Brazil. I will be hosting the Portuguese version of this season over on the Intercept Brazil feed. This is a story about how the ethanol kingpin of Iowa became the king of corn in Brazil and how a

[Amy Westervelt]

bunch of ideas that are great for the oil and ag industries got rebranded as climate solutions and created a carbon gold rush. A few months ago, Felipe started telling me about this giant pig statue that greets people near Bruce Rastetter's home base in Brazil. Because, yes, his partners in Brazil also started out as pig farmers. These guys are all still in the pig business, and boy, do they love pigs. When Felipe sent me a picture of this pig statue, I was kind of shook. If you're imagining some sort of tasteful bronze statue, think again. This is a massive porky pig looking thing wearing lederhosen and a bright green hat holding a corn cob.

[Felipe Sabrina]

And it even has a name, Lucinha, or little Lucas, because the town is called Lucas do Hioverde. It tells you actually a lot about this place. It was proposed by one of the largest landowners in the area, big agriculture business guy. He comes from a German family, which is why the pig is wearing a German outfit. Around 50 years ago, the Brazilian agriculture industry came to this place looking for a cheap and easy land grab. Today, the American agriculture industry is doing the same thing. Vosista in Lucas do Rio Verde.

[Amy Westervelt]

This audio you're listening to with the epic background music is from a promotional video by the LUCA Studio Verde city government. Highlighting the wonders of the city. The video mixes images of macaws, forests in the sunset, and large cotton, soybean and corn fields. The city government wants you to know that Lucas is the city of opportunities. It has more than 95,000 inhabitants and and produces more than 2 million tons of grain per year. The narrator of the video says, we are one of the fastest growing cities in Brazil. And then the screen fills with a mix of smiling children, crops and grain pouring out of machines. Lucas Rio Verde is all money, growth and seas of corn and soybeans as far as the eye can see.

[Felipe Sabrina]

The first time I visited, it shocked me to see massive crops right next to people's homes. But the more I learned about Lucas, the more it made sense. The town is a fiction designed and built by the government to impose development on this region. Lucas was entirely created to serve agriculture and its owners. The wide avenues are lined with silos, agricultural machinery stores, supply stores, credit banks and real estate agencies. Trucks over 20 meters long, loaded with soybeans or corn, have plenty of space to drive around or park on the curb. Walking in Lucas, on the other hand, is a challenge. Because of the distances between the long avenues, the heat and the lack of trees to provide shade. The city is obsessed with imperial palm trees. There are hundreds of of them in the town center and on the sides of the roads. With nothing but monoculture crops and imported palm trees. There is no vegetation in the area to insulate it from extreme temperature changes. Lucas can go from freezing cold to unbelievably hot from one moment to the next. It was weird for me, but the people I spoke with here, they didn't seem to mind. The image of abundant harvests has drawn people from all over the country to Lucas.

[Amy Westervelt]

My husband was unemployed for two years. Then we saw reports about the city, which is a very good place to live, to raise children, even in terms of violence. So we packed our bags. Isabella is from Minas Terreis, a Brazilian state southeast of Lucas. But since 2021, she's been L here with her husband and children. She sells acai bowls in front of the parking lot of a multinational grain company. Acai is a fruit typical of the Amazon. Isabella buys it from suppliers and sells it to truck drivers who load and unload grain here. She passes small bowls of acai cream through the fence and the truckers pass back cash. Isabella said Lucas is great not least because when she needs to take her kids to a public hospital, she never waits more than an hour to be seen. Here in the city, I don't think anyone can complain about health care, she says. The Lucas do Rioverde Hospital, San Lucas in particular, is especially nice. It's run today by a partnership between the city and agribusiness entrepreneurs. Now they've opened a really nice ward at you. The whole hospital has been renovated. In fact, the new maternity ward at the Salud Lucas Hospital has a promotional video, too. And a few seconds into it, listeners might recognize a not so Brazilian sounding name. Bruce Rastetter, the ethanol kingpin of Iowa. He wields a lot of power there, but outside the state, he's not exactly a household name. Now, suddenly, a new wing in the hospital in this Brazilian farm town was being named after this gu. How did that happen?

[Felipe Sabrina]

The hospital canceled my tour just before I arrived. So our producer Marce Riverdoz, and I just showed up to see what we could see. We talked to a hospital worker in the hallway.

[Amy Westervelt]

It's a little hard to hear there because Felipe and Marcia were trying to tape with their phone. And of course, she's speaking in Portuguese, these two. But when they asked her about the name of the ward, the Bruce Rastatter wing, she said it was named after Bruce, a doctor from Ohio. We're still not sure where she got that idea, but funding big public projects, especially around hospitals and healthcare, is really common in Brazil. You just heard how, when telling Felipe about what she likes about Lucas, Isabela mentioned healthcare. People think of hospitals as an example of how nice a city is or how well it's working. So if Lucas has a good hospital, no one can say that the politicians or the businessmen running things here are bad. That goes double for anything that's focused on women and children. So a maternity ward checks a lot of boxes. And then we found out that the hospital is run by a foundation led by one of Rastetter's Brazilian business partners, Marino. Franz Marino's brother Paolo, was the one that proposed that giant pig statue that looks out over Lucas. And to understand how Rastatter, the American farmer, ended up with a Brazilian rural maternity ward named after him, we had to figure out how the Franz Brothers fit into it and what brought Bruce to Brazil in the first place. That's coming up after the break.

[Kalpen (Kalpen Modi)]

Service opens doors, and at American Military University, it can open doors for the whole family. If you have a loved one who served in the military, you may qualify for reduced tuition. AMU offers flexible online programs designed to fit your schedule so you can keep moving forward wherever life takes you. Learn more at amu.apus open doors to the future for you and your family with the help of the American Military University.

[Jacob Goldstein]

This is Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem? Business software is expensive and when you buy software from lots of different companies, it's not only expensive, it gets confusing. Slow to use, hard to integrate. Odoo solves that because all Odoo software is connected on a single affordable platform. Save money without missing out on the features you need. Odoo has no hidden costs and no limit on features or data. Odoo has over 60 apps available for any needs your business might have, all at no additional charge. Everything from websites to sales to inventory to accounting. All linked and talking to each other. Check out Odoo at o d o o.com that's o d o o.com this

[Kalpen (Kalpen Modi)]

episode is brought to you by Navy Federal Credit Union At Navy Federal Credit Union, May is their favorite month even though they support the military community all year long. Military Appreciation Month is their time to celebrate all those who go above and beyond because they know all members of the military community protect our country at home and abroad, take care of their families and volunteer in their communities. That's why it's been their mission to help for over 90 years as a member owned credit union. They invest in their members with lower rates and fewer fees. Navy Federal Credit Union also supports the military community through their partnership with Higher Heroes usa, empowering transitioning service members, veterans and military spouses to succeed in the civilian workforce. And many of their employees are part of the community they serve, so they provide families with personalized financial guidance and award winning 247 support. To learn more, visit navyfederal.org Celebrate and from all of us, happy military appreciation Month. Navy Federal Credit Union Navy Federal is insured by NCUA.

[Amy Westervelt]

Lucas to Rio Verde is in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a state that is almost exactly half agriculture and half Amazon rainforest. It used to be even more Amazon. For decades the state was considered the frontier in Brazil. The forests were preserved and it was home to even more indigenous people than it is today. But in the 1960s and 1970s, Brazil's military government deployed a new strategy. It was called the National Integration Plan. The idea was to eliminate indigenous communities that were seen as anti development and integrate the north and midwest of Brazil into the national economy. This propaganda film from the 70s celebrates the revolution reaching the jungle, toppling trees and in favor of roads the goal was to develop the Amazon by building infrastructure in the wilderness, displacing indigenous residents and encouraging people from outside the region to move there, to be pioneers and go to this frontier and tame it. The main farm towns in Mato Grosso today were deliberate colonization projects, many of them built and funded by the Brazilian government. The government offered people plots of land, housing, and sometimes even credit to move there. They even funded research to figure out how crops like soybeans and cotton could be grown in the tropical climate there. That's what brought the Franz Brothers there decades ago. And according to Paolo, it's the Franz Brothers who brought Bruce to the area. In Paolo's telling, it all happened because of an internship he did in Iowa and an important contact he made there. Here he is talking about it on a Brazilian podcast.

[Bruce Rastetter]

Terry Branstad.

[Amy Westervelt]

Terry Branstad, the governor of Iowa at the time and eventually US Ambassador to China during Trump's first presidency. Powell says they all went to soccer games together a lot. Powell says it was Branstad who introduced him to Bruce Rastetter. Bruce is the CEO of the company, the founder. He has a huge passion for pigs and has been involved with pigs his whole life. He was a pig farmer until he started getting into ethanol, which is a very recent thing. I don't know whether, just to clarify, Americans produce more ethanol from corn than we do from sugar cane. There, the philosophy, the culture, is producing ethanol from corn. So as president, I met with this Terry Branstad, who is the governor of Iowa. We met, and he wanted to buy some land here in Brazil. Bruce doesn't mention any of this when he's asked about how he wound up in Brazil. Here's how he talked about it on a farming podcast a couple of years ago.

[Bruce Rastetter]

So when we sold Hawkeye to Koch

[Amy Westervelt]

Industries, that was one of his ethanol companies.

[Bruce Rastetter]

That freed me up for the first time to do other things outside of being responsible for a larger company, and started traveling to Brazil.

[Amy Westervelt]

This is how Bruce talks about it in other interviews, too. He was interested in Brazil because it's the main agricultural competitor to the US or because other US Companies had done well there, et cetera, et cetera. It was when we were trying to verify Bruce and Paolo's differing versions of this story that our Brazil editor, Alice d', Souza, found a guy with yet another version.

[Bruce Rastetter]

Is this pro ethanol? Are you tree huggers? Are you looking at this from a negative standpoint, or are you looking at it from a neutral standpoint? I don't mind being neutral. I can be critical of this, too. Yeah, but because clients of mine have invested in upwards of a billion dollars now in my Pedro, I don't want to fuck this up.

[Amy Westervelt]

That's Corey Melby, an agriculture consultant in Brazil.

[Bruce Rastetter]

I came from northwest Minnesota developing land. So of course, when in the early 2000s, when Macarosso and all of this soybean expansion was taking place, I was going to be the lamb guy for a group from some of the first guys I went down with. You're going to be here, Cory. Pick up the language, make up the contacts. You could be the real estate guy. So that's where I started, was from that perspective.

[Amy Westervelt]

Full disclosure. We paid Corey Melvi to be a fixer for us on the ground in Mato Grosso. The idea was that he would take us around and ideally arrange a meeting with the brothers Fronds at their farm. None of that ended up panning out, but he did talk to Felipe and I and he told us a lot about how Bruce started out in Brazil. He also added me to his newsletter list, which is a wealth of ag knowledge about Brazil. Although it comes out so many times a week, I still have about 500 unread emails in a folder marked Corey.

[Bruce Rastetter]

So I've been on every farm in my po. I wrote the the boom times and the bus and the boom times and the bus again with all my friends. So I, you know, I have that 25 year arc of experience now of the good, bad and ugly of Michael Grosso. And believe me, there's plenty of all of it.

[Amy Westervelt]

He knows a lot about Bruce and the Franz Brothers because he did for Bruce what he's done for the past 25 years for other Americans looking to get into the ag business in Monte Grosso, he toured them around looking for land.

[Bruce Rastetter]

Back in 2011, I was visiting Surima and he was a young, dynamic guy and he would say, cory, we're looking to develop a corn oil mill. Processing and investors are partnering that corn oil. So I was writing about this BS in my newsletters at the time and also visiting in Lucas de Alberta at the elevators at the time, talking to farmers. Oh, corn ethanol, corn ethanol. We gotta get corn ethanol here or we're going to bury ourselves.

[Amy Westervelt]

Because of his newsletter and his ties to various American ag folks, Corey has kind of become known as the guy to call if you're an American who wants to get a sense of Mato Grosso. So when people started talking about corn ethanol there, it was only a matter of time before he got a call

[Bruce Rastetter]

from, you know who Summit from Iowa, which I'm sure you are very familiar with Bruce Rashtter and Eric. And then the whole club get a call from Bruce's letter, email. Hey, we would like a tour of Marco Grosso. We're going to be down there for another reason. Could. Could we do something a la carte with you, Corey?

[Amy Westervelt]

They didn't want to take one of Corey's prepackaged ag tours.

[Bruce Rastetter]

Okay, so this is 2011. We do a little quick power tour, they go home. I figured just another tour. We were looking at land. We would love to get going on some land deals.

[Amy Westervelt]

Corey carried on, thinking nothing of it. But six months or so later, he got a call from some friends in Malto Grosso.

[Bruce Rastetter]

My good friend, the Franzes, you know, they were Cory, we want to get an ethanol mill when out here, but we need help. We need Americans, we need capital, et cetera, et cetera. So I was telling Bruce and the guys at the time, you know, I've got friends out here that want to get.

[Amy Westervelt]

According to Corey at the time, Bruce and the guys weren't quite ready to get into the ethanol business in Brazil. They were just looking for some farmland. Then they came back for another trip. And as Corey tells it, this is when they met the Franzes.

[Bruce Rastetter]

All of a sudden, you know, Brazilians being Brazilians, we've got a farm for sale.

[Amy Westervelt]

Corey helped broker the deal between Bruce and the Franzes, and it kept them all talking.

[Bruce Rastetter]

Three years to close on this damn farm. But that farm purchase then opened the door with trust and capital. Hey, let's. Let's build an ethanol mill in Lucas. Together.

[Amy Westervelt]

The Franz Brothers had hit the big time. They were getting into business with the ethanol kingpin of Iowa. It was a whole new level, or as Corey calls it, cycle three.

[Bruce Rastetter]

Cycle one is deforestation in cattle. Cycle two is. So cycle 2.5 is soy corn. Basically, you know, the combination cycle three now is to be what we would say, industrial or added value.

[Amy Westervelt]

No different than Iowa for the Franz Brothers. Bruce was a white whale at a time of booming Brazil in industrial agriculture. He happened to have some free time on his hands. And now this international king of corn had picked them. What luck. But that story misses one important detail. At the time he was doing land tours in Brazil, Bruce Rastatter was having a really bad time back home in Iowa. Since 2012, since that big land grab attempt in Africa, he has become a dirty word in Iowa. It's just that's what he does is like his business model, you know, and whether it was in Iowa with, you know, how he was treating Iowa farmers or now it's globally. Yeah, he just keeps pushing his business advancement. Right. It's all about his corporate profits. Friends of friends have said that he's kind of over Iowa and more interested in Brazil, which, I mean, I suppose if I was in his shoes, if I had the choice of, you know, being at a place where everybody hated me in a place where people fawned over me, I'd probably go to people fond over me. That's our story next time. We reached out to Bruce Rastetter, Harold Ham, the Franz Brothers, Miguel Vaz Ribeiro and all Summit companies and Brazilian government agencies mentioned in this season for comment and have incorporated incorporated any responses we received throughout the season.

[Felipe Sabrina]

Carbon Cowboys Cowboys of the Isejado is a collaboration between Drilled and the Intercept Brazil.

[Amy Westervelt]

The show was reported and written by Felipe, Sabrina and me, Amy Westervelt.

[Felipe Sabrina]

Our editors are Audrey Quinn in the US And Alice de Souza in Brazil.

[Amy Westervelt]

Our senior producer and sound designer is Martin Zaltz Ostwyk Audio production, Production and sound design in Brazil by Marcia Heberdosa and Felipe Mux.

[Felipe Sabrina]

Theme song and original music by Eric Terrena.

[Amy Westervelt]

Additional music by Martin Zaltz Ostwick. Our engineer is Peter Duff.

[Felipe Sabrina]

Artwork for Drilled is by Matt Fleming.

[Amy Westervelt]

US Fact checking from Naomi Barr Brazil

[Felipe Sabrina]

fact checking by Studio Frontera.

[Amy Westervelt]

Our First Amendment attorney is James Wheaton with the First Amendment Project. We are also proud members of Reporter Shield. Big thanks also to Andrew Fishman, President of the Intercept Brazil.

[Felipe Sabrina]

Drilled is distributed by Pushkin Industries.

[Amy Westervelt]

Huge thanks to the team there, including Greta Cohen, Eric Sandler, Grace Ross, Morgan Ratner, Owen Miller, Kira Posey, Jordan McMillan, Brian Schrebernek and Jake Flanagan. To hear the Portuguese Keys version of this series, head over to the Intercept Brazil site or search for the Intercept Brazil's podcast feed. Wherever you listen to podcasts. This is Sophia Bush from Work in Progress with Sophia Bush. And now a quick break from our sponsor, Miracle Grow. Life is digitally distracted and time starved, but gardening is the perfect way to unplug. It isn't just about plants. It's about trading the digital noise for a quiet way to reconnect with yourself. Whether you're in an apartment or you've never even touched a shovel, don't let self doubt stop you. With 75 years of expertise, Miracle Gro takes the stress out of the process and makes it pure Joy. Head to miraclegrow.com to check out all of their easy to use products and start your growth journey.

[Kalpen (Kalpen Modi)]

Today, service opens doors and at American Military University. It can open doors for the whole family. If you have a loved one who served in the military, you may qualify for reduced tuition. AMU offers flexible online programs designed to fit your schedule so you can keep moving forward wherever life takes you. Learn more at amuapus.edu Military open doors to the future for you and your family with the help of the American Military University.

[Jacob Goldstein]

When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out odoo@o d o o dot com. That's o d o o dot com.

[Amy Westervelt]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.