Via a $3.5 million grant, Bushel will be working to add carbon intensity (CI) scores to its digital platform. A pilot program will be launched with sustainable fuel and grain processing plants in North Dakota during 2024.
There are two parts to the pilot:
- Easing and enabling the collection and permission-based sharing of on-farm data to calculate CI scores
- A dashboard that provides partners such as Red Trail Energy insights and aggregate reporting of feedstock CI scores.
“The goal is to remove administrative burden and paperwork while enabling an alignment of feedstock production and carbon program requirements,” says Brant Flint, Business Development at Bushel. “We are working with Red Trail right now on the details to help them get started.”
The grant is provided by the North Dakota Industrial Commission through the Clean Sustainable Energy program.
“Most of the sustainability efforts have been focused on the farmers. But with opportunities such as the Section 45z tax credits, we believe we can support the “messy middle” of the supply chain. With opportunities such as this grant, it allows us to better partner and explore these emerging opportunities with our customers,” Flint says.
Carbon intensity is the measurement used in the tax credits provided by the Section 45z of the Inflation Reduction Act. Notably, the tax credits are given on a per-bushel basis, unlike other programs based on a per acre basis.
“The technology and data points are in place. It’s about putting the pieces together to provide improved experiences for farmers to select the right programs, and for agribusinesses to better benchmark and source more sustainably produced grain. Our customers want choices on how they evolve their programs and Bushel can support those from a technology standpoint while partnering with the companies doing the best work,” Flint says.
