Farmers Must Now Track Carbon Footprint of Biofuel Crops
Published Date: 1/17/2025
Rule
Summary
Starting January 17, 2025, farmers growing crops for biofuels will follow new rules to measure and report how their climate-smart farming methods cut greenhouse gas emissions. These guidelines help farmers prove their eco-friendly practices and track progress, opening doors to environmental markets. If you grow or work with biofuel crops, get ready to share your data and maybe earn rewards for going green!
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 3 costs, 1 mixed.
Farmers must measure and report CI
If you grow biofuel feedstock crops (field corn, soybeans, or sorghum) and use climate-smart agriculture practices, you must quantify and report a farm-level carbon intensity (CI) using USDA’s FD-CIC tool once finalized, prepare a Biofuel Feedstock Report with a Farm Producer Attestation, and give that report to the first point of aggregation when you sell reduced-CI crop. These requirements take effect January 17, 2025, and you must keep all related records for 5 years.
Annual audits and verifier accreditation
All first points of aggregation, intermediary entities, and biofuel refiners handling reduced-CI crops or processed products must be audited annually by an accredited third-party verifier; verifiers must be accredited to ISO 14065 by a member of the International Accreditation Forum. Farm suppliers to a first point of aggregation will be audited as a sample each year; the minimum farm audit sample size must be at least the square root of the number of supplying farms (for 51 suppliers the sample is at least 8).
Mass-balance records and 3-month windows
Entities that buy, sell, or process reduced-CI crops must operate a mass balance accounting system so outgoing reduced-CI volumes do not exceed incoming volumes, document continuous mass-balance time periods that may not exceed three months, and retain mass-balance records for 5 years. Processors must also track crushing yield and convert processed products back to crop equivalents using that yield.
Potential to earn premium for reduced‑CI crops
The rule establishes traceability and verification for reduced‑CI feedstocks so farm producers, elevators, processors, and refiners could sell products with environmental attributes and may be able to earn a premium price for reduced‑CI biofuel feedstock in environmental service markets. USDA states these guidelines facilitate participation in such markets but does not itself create a market.
Which crops and practices qualify
The rule applies domestically to field corn, soybeans, and sorghum only; it recognizes CSA practices that qualify for reduced-CI status such as no‑till, reduced till (STIR value no greater than 80), cover crops, nitrification inhibitors, split in‑season nitrogen application, and no fall nitrogen application. Intermediate oilseeds and canola are excluded from this rule.
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