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NCGA pleased with latest 45Z guidance

The director of public policy in renewable fuels for the National Corn Growers Association says the latest step towards implementing the 45Z clean fuel tax credit is mostly good news for farmers.

Matt Ziegler says the USDA’s Regenerative Agricultural Feedstock Rule gives corn farmers a clear path toward participating in the voluntary program.

“Some key items pertaining to how on-farm practices will be scored in terms of carbon intensity, much more expanded in terms of how 45Z was originally constructed.”  He says, “So yeah, we’re very pleased.”

He tells Brownfield the expansion of qualifying practices is critical.

“We started out with three.”  He says, “It’s a much more expanded list from no-till to some things you can do with nitrogen, enhanced efficiency fertilizers, and so on. There’s a number of different ways that you can kind of tick the box compared to where we started.”

Ziegler says the main drawback is the adoption of a “mass balance” chain of custody standard, which means the grain must be traced to an ethanol plant.

“We hope that a book and claim system down the road would give the maximum number of farmers across regions and soil types the ability to make qualifying feedstock,” he says.

He says once USDA’s rule is finalized, it then needs to go through the Department of Energy and the Treasury Department, which has announced a goal of having finalized guidance issued by November.

AUDIO: Matt Ziegler – NCGA