IRFA: USDA regenerative-ag rule a welcome step forward

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association thanked USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins June 26 for releasing the USDA’s final rule on regenerative-agriculture practices.

This rule lays out guidelines for farmers to quantify, report and verify the carbon-intensity (CI) scores of the crops they grow for the production of biofuels.

“This rule is a great step forward from the draft rule, providing greater flexibility for farmers to adopt the practices that make the most sense for their farm,” said Monte Shaw, the executive director of IRFA. “The benefits of recognizing regenerative-ag practices ripple throughout rural America. Farmers can benefit from adopting these practices. Biofuels producers can benefit from sourcing low-CI feedstocks and accessing massive new markets around the globe. And maybe most importantly, biofuels production will now be the single-biggest driver of regenerative-ag practices that improve water quality throughout rural America. And this should just be the start. Over time, we hope that additional regenerative-ag practices and additional biofuels feedstocks will also be included.”

For now, while the rule is an important and necessary step toward ensuring farmers receive the recognition they deserve for improving their crops’ CI scores under the 45Z clean fuel production credit, it is not the final piece of the puzzle.

“While USDA’s action today is great news for farmers, the priority becomes DOE expeditiously incorporating this tool into the agency’s 45Z GREET model,” Shaw added. “Then, the treasury department must immediately recognize that updated model in time for farmers to make decisions this fall. It may seem a little early when this year’s harvest isn’t even out of the ground yet, but many farmers will already be making decisions by August that will impact the CI of next year’s crop.”

As a standalone USDA tool, the CI calculators have the potential to be adopted by states and even international programs looking at incorporating farming practices into clean-fuel programs moving forward.