As President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order this week advancing regenerative agriculture, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a final Regenerative Feedstock Rule designed to help farmers voluntarily capture new value from regenerative agricultural practices through biofuel markets.
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;
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.
USDA is also releasing an updated USDA Feedstock Carbon Intensity Calculator (USDA FD-CIC) to help producers quantify regenerative practices such as cover crops, and 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.
The new framework creates significant opportunities for America’s leading biofuel feedstock producers. American farmers currently produce approximately 6 billion bushels of corn used annually for ethanol production, with 68 percent 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 percent of soybean farmers already utilize at least one regenerative practice. As participation grows, USDA expects the rule to expand premium market opportunities for producers across the country.