The company leases certain facilities, parcels of land, and equipment, with remaining terms ranging from less than one year to approximately 11.6 years. The land and facility leases include renewal options. The renewal options are included in the lease term only for those sites or locations in which they are reasonably certain to be renewed. Equipment renewals are not considered reasonably certain to be exercised as they typically renew with significantly different underlying terms.


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2026		2025
Lease expense
Operating lease expense	$	6,857	$	7,328
Variable lease expense (1)	604		222
Total lease expense	$	7,461	$	7,550

(1)Represents amounts incurred in excess of the minimum payments required for a certain building lease and for the handling and unloading of railcars for a certain land lease, offset by railcar lease abatements provided by the lessor when railcars are out of service during periods of maintenance or upgrade.


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2026		2025
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities
Operating cash flows from operating leases	$	7,010	$	7,372

Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for lease obligations
Operating leases	8,027		282


	March 31, 2026		December 31, 2025
Weighted average remaining lease term	3.7 years		3.8 years

Weighted average discount rate	5.40	%	5.46	%

Aggregate minimum lease payments under the operating lease agreements for the remainder of 2026 and in future years are as follows (in thousands):


Year Ending December 31,	Amount
2026	$	19,211
2027	22,111
2028	13,637
2029	10,181
2030	4,597
Thereafter	3,739
Total	73,476
Less: Present value discount	(6,954)
Lease liabilities	$	66,522

The company has two additional railcar operating leases commencing, with one during the second quarter of 2026 with undiscounted future lease payments of approximately $3.2 million and a lease terms of three years and another during the third quarter of 2026 with undiscounted future lease payments of approximately $0.9 million and a lease terms of five years. These amounts are not included in the tables above.

As of March 31, 2026, the company had contracted future purchases of grain, ethanol, distillers grains and natural gas, valued at approximately $270.1 million and future commitments for storage and transportation, valued at approximately $36.6 million.

The company has entered into contracts with Tallgrass High Plains Carbon Storage, LLC and its affiliates, related to the construction, development and operation of carbon capture and sequestration projects at our three Nebraska plants. As of March 31, 2026, the company had incurred $12.9 million of accumulated construction costs in relation to the projects, presented as carbon equipment liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet.

The company is currently involved in litigation that has arisen in the ordinary course of business, but does not believe any pending litigation will have a material adverse effect on its financial position, results of operations or cash flows.