BASF, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and Arva announced May 26 a strategic collaboration to help biofuel producers and farmers capture the full value of the Clean Fuel Production Credit, known as Section 45Z, once the implementing regulations are finalized. Together, the companies will connect biorefineries with verified low-carbon intensity grain through both farmer-direct and commercial channels, rewarding farmers for their practices and giving biorefineries the data and documentation they need.
Through this collaboration, biorefineries can gain a dependable pipeline of low-carbon intensity bushels with audit-ready and verified documentation to support future 45Z claims, while farmers can potentially be recognized and compensated for the outcomes of the practices they’re already putting on the ground — all without disrupting existing procurement relationships or grain flows.
“Approximately half of U.S. ethanol production relies on commercially sourced grain,” said Jeff Carver, commercial manager for xarvio BIOENERGY at BASF Agricultural Solutions. “Our collaboration with Arva creates a scalable solution for U.S. ethanol that, when combined with xarvio FIELD MANAGER, will help meet the industry’s need for low-CI grain as well as the farmer’s need to be recognized for growing it.”
This collaboration expands the capability of the CircaLQ Low Carbon Intensity Crops program by BASF, allowing a biorefinery to help maximize its low-CI grain procurement through both farmer-direct and commercial channels. With xarvio FIELD MANAGER, agronomists can help their farmers maximize yield potential and lower carbon intensity while connecting their data to biorefineries using xarvio BIOENERGY for farmer-direct contracts. Commercial elevators that have their low-CI grain scored and verified through Arva’s CropForce platform will now also be able to connect to xarvio BIOENERGY, enabling a biorefinery to identify and verify its commercial procurement of low-CI grain.
“Biofuel producers need both verified field-level data and operational simplicity,” said Ryan Pearcy, managing director, biofuels and renewable energy at Arva. “By integrating our growing network of commercial grain partners and our proven verification capability with BASF’s BIOENERGY platform, we can help plants recognize more low-CI bushels so farmers can have a clear way to be rewarded for their regenerative agricultural practices.”
In addition to optimizing low-CI feedstock for 45Z, the field-specific data reporting power of xarvio FIELD MANAGER and CropForce can help biorefineries meet current and potential future sustainability requirements for biofuels set by the California Air Resources Board.
The collaboration between BASF and Arva will offer the following:
- One seamless biorefinery experience: A single system view of low-CI feedstock for biofuel facilities with xarvio BIOENERGY, eliminating fragmented steps between farmer-direct and commercial grain procurement channels. xarvio BIOENERGY can be the comprehensive low-CI feedstock tracking tool for a biorefinery with any mix of farmer-direct and commercial grain sources.
