May 9, 2024 - Written By Geswein Farm and Land - Kristen A. Schmitt
Join the Billion Bushel Challenge and lower your CI score today
Mitchell Hora wants to increase your bottom line one bushel at a time through efficient corn production that lowers your carbon intensity while boosting your economic gain. How? Through Continuum Ag’s Billion Bushel Challenge.
American farmers plant about 90 million acres of corn each year that’s used as the main energy ingredient in livestock feed and fuel ethanol production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Out of those 90 million acres, “5.4 billion bushels of U.S. corn goes into ethanol every year, which is about a third of the U.S. corn crop,” says Hora, a seventh-generation farmer whose family has farmed in Washington, Iowa for over 100 years.
Carbon intensity scores (CI scores) are standard units of measurement created by the U.S. Department of Energy and have been part of the fuel industry for decades. These scores are tallied based upon the fuel’s lifecycle emissions (greenhouse gases) – not just by the emissions released when the fuel is being used – and the current estimated carbon intensity score (CI score) for the average bushel of corn is 29.1 g GHG/MJ, measured with units specifically for ethanol production.
A farm’s CI score is determined from production through delivery of the crop to an ethanol plant. A CI score of zero is considered carbon neutral and the higher the score, the worse it is for the environment. This CI score matters because of a new tax credit known as 45 Z, which is anticipated to roll out Jan. 1, 2025, and will benefit farmers who grow corn for biofuel manufacturers.
“In order to capitalize on 45 Z, we’re going to need to know and lower the carbon intensity score of those 5.4 billion bushels,” says Hora. “In order to jumpstart the effort, Continuum Ag launched the Billion Bushel Challenge to score the first two billion bushels.”
Farmers producing crops on farmland who are able to offer corn with a CI score lower than the current national average will become sought after by biofuel manufacturers once 45 Z is approved. This is where Hora and Continuum Ag come into the equation. With 263,634,578 bushels already scored using a specialty test conducted by Continuum Ag, the average CI score is currently 10.6, which is significantly lower than the national average CI score.
This is a good sign that sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices are definitely working for the soil health of the family farm – and Hora wants that success to become extra dollars in every farmer’s pocket.
To do this, Hora is spreading the word about the importance of implementing sustainable practices like planting cover crops, reducing tillage, optimizing fertilizer inputs for yield outputs, reducing fuel usage and pesticide use and switching over to a natural fertilizer instead of one made with fossil fuels. These practices lower your farm’s CI score, but it does take time. Unfortunately, it’s not an overnight success story – instead, it’s one that takes several years to reap the benefits, but once lowered, it should only continue to do so over time as these sustainable agriculture practices continue.
Local ROI by lowering CI score
“I feel like our system’s broken,” says Jason Stonecipher, who grows soy, corn and hemp in west central Indiana. “We have resistance to weeds. We’re so heavily reliant on synthetic inputs and we’ve got to get away from all of this chemistry and try to let the soil do its thing.”
Stonecipher has been lowering his farm’s CI score through regenerative agriculture practices for the past eight years, starting with no-till and, more recently, planting cover crops. It’s taken some time, but he’s witnessed both the ecological benefits through the soil on his farm – which he says now has a strong structure, good smell and plenty of earthworms – and the growing interest in other local landowners he works with on adapting similar practices for future gain.
“[The landowners] want to see their soils restored,” says Stonecipher. “I think the landowner of the future is going to look for these types of practices because the consumer is looking for it.”
But figuring out what works for your farm can be a “learning curve,” according to Stonecipher, who adds that “every year, we get a bit better at it.”
And Stonecipher is aware of the potential payoff when it comes to a lower CI score with passage of 45 Z in the near future. “Hopefully, since we’ve been doing this regenerative ag thing for some time, we can capture some of the premiums on corn and beans that are raised sustainably, and hopefully add something to our bottom line.”
However, soil health, in Stonecipher’s opinion, should be a focus of all farmers going forward, regardless of the carbon intensity scoring because it mirrors a shift in consumer demand and what customers want with regard to sustainably raised food.
“I know that farmers don’t want to be told how to farm,” acknowledges Stonecipher, “but I also know that if we’re not cognizant to our consumer, our customers, who want us to raise crops in a certain way, then we need to tailor operation to get it that way.”