After four years of waiting, and mounting questions from farmers and ethanol producers about the 45Z tax credits, the Treasury Department has released its proposed rules for the credit. With this announcement, agriculture suppliers such as Laura Lant Haney of Midwest Grass and Forage expect to see an increase in demand for cover crops heading into the fall season.
“Cover crop adoption will be very incentivized with 45Z from participating ethanol plants, so we are excited to see the demand for cover crops continue to grow. We expect great supply on cover crops for this fall,” Lant Haney shared.
“A lot of our seed will come out of the Dakota areas, off the West Coast, and out of Canada. I am a big believer that if you’re planting cover crops that will overwinter in the Midwest, you want to get your seed source from at least your latitude or farther north. So, we typically look for suppliers north of us, so that the seed we bring in and utilize is more winter-hardy and benefits our farmers longer throughout the growing season.”
Lant Haney was recently recognized by the Illinois Corn Growers Association with the Mike Plumer Environmental Excellence Award for her work helping connect farmers with conservation strategies such as cover crop use.
