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New Senate bill would extend 45Z tax credits

New legislation that would extend 45Z biofuel tax credits has been reintroduced in the U.S. Senate.

The bipartisan Farmer First Fuel Incentive Act was introduced Thursday by Republican Roger “Doc” Marshall of Kansas and Democrat Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.  Marshall tells Brownfield turning soybean oil into jet fuel is the best opportunity agriculture has had in decades. “The market size of this is incredible. It would literally take four times the entire soybean crop that the United States grows if we were to make all of our jet fuel from soybeans, so I think that’s a huge opportunity.”

Marshall says the bill would provide long-term certainty for more than soybeans. “There’s an extra benefit for people that use precision agriculture to grow corn or sorghum which can be turned into ethanol, and the final thing about this 45Z legislation we have is it would give us ten years of certainty rather than just two years of certainty.”

The new legislation would also create a restriction excluding foreign-grown feedstocks such as imported used cooking oil.

Marshall says similar legislation died in the last session of Congress but has more support now. “We have quite a few Democrat supporters. We’ve got supporters on the House side of this, and I think as we proceed with the Reconciliation Bill, there’s a chance we could fit it in there or maybe put it into a farm bill somewhere.”

Marshall says the legislation will likely go first to the agriculture committees in the House and Senate.  He is confident the Farmer First Fuel Incentive Act has a strong chance of becoming law. “The Secretary of Agriculture, she and I have talked about this on numerous times, Secretary Rollins, and then I’m sure since it’s a tax credit, there will have to be some role for Treasury as well and I’ve spoken to Secretary Bessent about it as well, so I think we’re in pretty good shape going forward.”

Along with the 45Z tax credits, Marshall says he’d like to see E15 ethanol fuel blends available nationwide, as that would consume about 80% of the corn currently exported by the U.S. 

AUDIO: Senator Roger Marshall discusses the Farmer First Fuel Incentive Act and updates us on taxes and the budget reconciliation bill with Brownfield’s Larry Lee