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USDA Issues Final Regenerative Biofuel Feedstock Rule, Carbon Intensity Calculator

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The US Department of Agriculture on Thursday rolled out a final Regenerative Feedstock Rule, a voluntary rule to capture new value from regenerative agricultural practices through biofuel markets.

This follows President Donald Trump's signing of an Executive Order advancing regenerative agriculture.

The Regenerative Feedstock Rule establishes a framework to connect regenerative agriculture practices to new markets within the biofuel supply chain for corn, soybeans, sorghum, and spring canola.

These standards include covered biofuel feedstock crops and participating entities throughout the supply chain.

The rule covers field-level quantification of crop-specific carbon intensity; mass-balance chain-of-custody standards, including traceability and recordkeeping; auditing and verification requirements; and regenerative agriculture practice standards for covered feedstock crops.

Also, USDA updated its Feedstock Carbon Intensity Calculator, or USDA FD-CIC, to help producers quantify the carbon intensity of regenerative practices such as cover crops, improved nutrient management, and conservation tillage, including no-till and reduced tillage.

Producers can use the resulting reports when marketing eligible feedstocks to participating biofuel producers.

American farmers currently produce approximately 6 billion bushels of corn, which is used annually for ethanol production, with 68% of corn farmers already implementing at least one regenerative practice.

Likewise, producers grow approximately 1.8 billion bushels of soybeans for biofuel production, while 70% of soybean farmers already utilize at least one regenerative practice.

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