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Credit coming for decades old soil health practices

Farmers who’ve been implementing soil health practices for years aren’t always recognized for that work in new voluntary carbon market programs, because companies who want to reduce their carbon footprint “they’re looking for new tons of carbon to be sequestered.”

But Alan Weber with the University of Missouri’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture says that could change with the use of low carbon intensity feedstocks to produce biofuels.

“In that particular case, a grower that had been using these practices for many years may still be eligible.”

The Inflation Reduction Act created two new tax credits for biofuel producers, including the Sustainable Aviation Fuel tax credit and in 2025, Weber says there will be a Clean Fuel Production Credit.

“And in both cases, the U.S. Department of Treasury is still trying to finalize guidance as to how those programs will be implemented.”

There are many unanswered questions as to how those tax credits will be shared with farmers, but Weber says corn and soybean farmers should keep a close watch on how those tax credits are implemented.

And this includes the future of the updated Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation model, used to measure carbon emissions.

Brownfield interviewed Weber at the Missouri Soybean’s Cover Crop Field Day last week.