Iowa farmer and consultant Mitchell Hora, Continuum Ag, spent some time Wednesday morning breaking down the 40B sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) tax credit guidance released this week for farmers hoping to be eligible.

To qualify under the guidance, corn farmers have to do cover crop, no-till, and enhanced efficiency fertilizer, while soybean farmers are required to cover crop and no-till. However, Hora says it’s unlikely anyone will qualify this year under 40B. “The crop you grew last year probably didn’t qualify for all these check the box items and you definitely didn’t have a written plan, which is what’s required,” said Hora. “The crop we’re going to grow this year…nobody is really going to make any tax credits.”

The good news is that this lays the groundwork for 45Z. “There’s a very high chance that they actually switch away from this check-the-box program to use the actual GREET score, which is what we want,” said Hora. “It does lay out very clearly what qualifies and how to verify and prepare ourselves.”

Hora also noted that the revised GREET model in the guidance included a major surprise when it came to indirect land use change (ILUC). “We’ve been thinking that the indirect land use change would go up…but they did the opposite. It actually went down a little bit!….Massive win for American farmers,” said Hora.

There were over 400 farmers and other stakeholders on Hora’s webinar which ran for an hour and still was not able to address all the questions. Continuum Ag has its TopSoil® Summit coming up June 3 in Riverside, Iowa which will be focused on Carbon Intensity to help prepare for the SAF tax credits. Continuum recently introduced CI Certification as a product for farmers to earn premiums for producing lower carbon intensity grain while ensuring secure data control.

Listen to Hora’s summary of the 40B SAF tax credit guidance:
Mitchell Hora, Continuum Ag 12:53