The recently passed Big Beautiful Bill officially locked in the 45Z tax credit through 2029. 45Z incentivizes the production of clean fuel and could result in a windfall for no-tillers producing low-carbon corn. “A game changer,” if you ask Washington, Iowa, no-tiller Mitchell Hora. The Continuum Ag founder hosted a press conference to helps farmers cash in. 

“We don’t know all the final details yet, but this is absolutely happening. It is going forward. It is locked in. We need to be ready to roll. At a minimum, know what your CI score is. And that’s free, it doesn’t take very long either. We do it at Topsoil.ag for free or google the GREET Model and go and get your CI score. Just know what you’re dealing with, understand how it works. The full GREET Model is pretty complicated, that’s why we simplified it. You own your data in our system.” 

“Be prepared, you’re going to have to verify your CI scores field by field. That’s how this is going to work. The data may be aggregated at a farm level. It may remain field by field. We don’t know, but regardless you have to have scores field by field, agronomic data field by field, and you have to undergo these audits. Whether it (undergoing audits) be proactively, like what we’ve been doing under our CI certification program, or it’s going to be required by the grand buyer — the ethanol plant.”

CI stands for carbon intensity. The closer your CI score is to 0, the likelier it is to translate to a tax credit for the ethanol plant and ultimately additional income for your farm.

Watch the full version of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.