Agriculture is part of the American Coalition for Ethanol’s DNA. That’s why the U.S. Department of Agriculture trusted us to lead a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) project to help ethanol producers and farmers unlock new markets and profit opportunities through soil health practices—such as reductions in tillage, efficient fertilizer use and cover crops—applied to feedstock crops.We’re gaining considerable ground thanks to our ethanol producer partners and USDA’s support.Last year, select ethanol companies helped us engage nearly 1,000 farmers across 10 states who offered to enroll 500,000 acres of conservation practices in our RCPP. We expect farmers to begin adopting practices later this year. Once they have implemented the practices, land-grant scientists will collect soil samples and other field-level data about the resulting carbon benefits to pressure test models, such as GREET, which are used to calculate carbon credit values. Running the data through GREET and other models helps us target information gaps, which currently prevent farmers and ethanol producers from monetizing ag practices in regulated fuel markets.The ACE RCPP also helped inspire USDA to publish technical guidelines this year to serve as a blueprint for how to monetize biofuel feedstocks like corn, soy and sorghum.USDA’s guidelines feature a new Feedstock Carbon Intensity Calculator (FD-CIC) which generates carbon credits for no-till, reduced-till, cover crops and nutrient management as stand-alone farming practices. It calculates even better credit values for stacking or combining some of these ag practices. In other words, USDA responded to our disappointment with the all-or-none bundled ag practice requirement and artificial cap on credit values in the expired sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) tax credit and discarded that impractical approach.Instead, USDA’s new guidelines represent the most significant acknowledgement to date by a government agency that practices already utilized by most farmers reduce the carbon intensity of biofuels.Going forward, if California or a Midwest state apply the USDA guidelines to a clean fuel program, it will increase demand and return economic value for U.S. farmers and ethanol producers. Additionally, if Treasury incorporates the USDA guidelines into the 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit, ethanol producers could have another pathway to be “in the money.”The final 45Z regulation is yet to be determined, so there are no guarantees. But, the preliminary USDA feedstock calculations are meaningful. For example, no-till could reduce the carbon intensity of corn production in eastern South Dakota by nearly 12 points and potentially be worth more than $100 per acre if fully monetized through 45Z. The combination of no-till and a cover crop could subtract nearly 22 points from the same corn’s carbon intensity and potentially return more than $200 per acre if fully monetized through 45Z. What’s more, the Department of Energy has reduced ethanol’s induced land use change (ILUC) score by nearly four points, so the average dry mill corn ethanol score has improved significantly.While these advancements are encouraging, ACE is convinced the practices many farmers are already using today should generate even greater carbon credit values, and we expect the RCPP field-level measurements from nearly 200 counties across the Corn Belt will prove us right when run through the FD-CIC and GREET model.&nbsp;We are indeed gaining ground. Our work with USDA, ethanol company partners and farmers will ultimately empower ethanol producers and the farmers supplying them to maximize opportunities to sell new and valuable products, diversify their profit potential and earn premium prices in regulated clean fuel markets.Author: Brian Jennings&nbsp; CEO, American Coalition for Ethanol&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

2025-02-28 - Gaining Ground to Unlock New Opportunities (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

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The American Coalition for Ethanol provides an update of its Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which aims to help ethanol producers and farmers unlock new markets and profit opportunities through soil health practices. 

Gaining Ground to Unlock New Opportunities

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