US farmers push for fair play in sustainable fuel tax credit

AFBF lobbies for changes to benefit domestic agriculture

By Farms.com

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is pushing for modifications to a tax credit program designed to accelerate sustainable fuel production in the United States. The program, known as 45Z, offers tax breaks to farmers and ranchers producing these fuels while contributing to reduced carbon emissions.

However, concerns surfaced after the release of program guidelines in April. The AFBF expressed dissatisfaction with the credit's limitations, arguing that the current system disadvantages US-grown crops despite their sustainability. This is attributed to a UN model used for scoring, which prioritizes factors not always relevant to US agriculture.

The AFBF highlights how certain foreign crops, such as used cooking oil from China and Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, are currently scoring well under the credit system.

This raise concerns that the program might inadvertently incentivize imports rather than supporting domestic production and infrastructure development.

The AFBF, along with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), is actively lobbying for adjustments to the credit. Their primary objective is to ensure the program fulfills its original intention of fostering a robust domestic sustainable fuel supply chain, offering a fair advantage to American farmers in the process.