Top farm groups want improvements in the administration’s sustainable aviation or clean fuel tax credit, shortcomings they say could put the benefits “out of reach for many farmers.” The American Farm Bureau, the American Soybean Association, the National Corn Growers Association, and the National Farmers Union wrote to the Department of the Treasury and the White House budget office, OMB.
The groups want the so-called 45Z tax credit restricted to domestic versus imported feedstocks like Chinese cooking oil and Brazilian ethanol. Joe Gilson is director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau and he says “We’re concerned that if the 45Z is not changed to have a domestic feedstock requirement, that these imports will continue to rise, and this feedstock from other countries will decrease demand for U.S.-based feedstocks.”
Gilson says bundling of climate-smart practices and burdensome paperwork are also hindering the success of the new tax credit set to take effect in January. He says, “There’s only a couple thousand acres that can qualify currently. You’re not going to be able to produce the amount of sustainable aviation fuel that we know the airlines are asking for. So, opening it up to more regions of the country and more of your average ordinary farmer in the Midwest, it’s going to be important to get the volume that’s needed for the airlines.”
AFB and the other farm groups say the 45Z tax credit potentially is a “game changer” for farmers and biofuel producers, but only if they can take advantage of it.
Story by Matt Kaye/Berns Bureau; courtesy of NAFB News Service
