Public Input Sought on Climate-Smart Farming Practices for Biofuel Feedstocks

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking public input on procedures for quantifying, reporting, and verifying the effects of climate-smart farming practices on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with domestic agricultural commodities used as biofuel feedstocks. The USDA’s notice, published on June 27, 2024, highlights that agricultural management practices that mitigate GHG emissions and sequester soil carbon can be integrated into GHG analysis to show the different outcomes based on production methods. The USDA notes that many clean transportation fuel programs do not currently assign lower carbon intensity estimates to crops grown with climate-smart practices compared to conventional methods. The USDA’s Request for Information (RFI) seeks insights on topics such as suitable biofuel feedstock crops, scientific data for GHG emissions quantification, necessary records for practice verification, systems for tracing feedstocks, and third-party verification methods. Public comments are due by July 25, 2024.