Federal incentives to lower greenhouse gas emissions could result in a windfall for no-tillers who are already raising low-carbon corn for ethanol. Sustainable aviation fuel, referred to as SAF, is eligible for a tax credit under Section 40B. An update to guidelines for the tax credit requires farmers to use no-till, cover crops and efficient nitrogen fertilizer for the corn being turned into ethanol in order for the fuel to qualify for a tax credit. Washington, Iowa, no-tiller and Continuum Ag founder Mitchell Hora explained some of the tax credit math in a recent webinar.  

 “I believe that for 60 cents a bushel, split up amongst all the different players, I just don’t know that the juice is going to be worth the squeeze. That’s the bundle approach of bundling cover crop, no-till and efficiency enhancing fertilizer, and only allocating 10 CI points. In reality, with the GREET model, doing those practices for most counties would lower your CI score by closer to 30 points, which is like what it’s done on my farm. We’re 33 points lower than the county default. Say that instead of giving 10 points it’s 30 points, triple these numbers, now I think we can make some headway and get more farmers to participate, more farmers brought into this soil health space.”

 More detailed information about the tax credit on No-TillFarmer.com

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