Ag Entrepreneur Mitchell Hora: The Wait for 45Z Clarity

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Mitchell Hora, an Iowa farmer and soil health consulting company owner, will soon have a decade of experience putting on his TopSoil Summit. The question is whether he will have a vital answer in time for the 300-500 farmers and investors from across the country who will show up.

Hora started the summit as an extension of Continuum Ag, his soil health data intelligence company that guides farmers on how to profit by improving their soil health. Lowering a farm’s carbon density is part of his company’s expertise. And the federal Section 45Z tax credit can be an important tool that is part of that.

However, the Trump administration has not finalized all the rules for the program.

“We are still waiting on the release of a USDA technical guidelines rule,” Hora told American Farmland Owner from his office in Washington, Iowa. “It’s called the ‘Technical Guidelines for the Production of Regenerative Agricultural Biofuel Feedstocks’ — meaning the rules for the farmers.”

Mitchell Hora bio:

• Continuum Ag – Founder/CEO

• TopSoil Summit -- Founder

• MT Hora Farms – Owner (Washington, Iowa)

• SR Management – Former owner

What are the 45Z rules?

‘Technical Guidelines for the Production of Regenerative Agricultural Biofuel Feedstocks’ sounds bureaucratic. But the impact could be massive.

Hora believes the coming rules could directly affect roughly 40% of America’s corn and soybean acres because of the role biofuels play in U.S. agriculture. And for farmland owners, the stakes may be even larger than many realize.

The 45Z tax credit was originally created in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 during the Biden Administration. The program rewards lower-carbon biofuel production and has now been extended through 2029. Hora says there is discussion in Washington, D.C.  about extending it again through 2033.

RELATED: Hora told American Farmland Owner in 2025 why he was so optimistic about what the Section 45Z tax credits could do for America’s farmers.

At the center of the debate is one key question: how do farmers prove their crops were grown with a lower carbon footprint?

That’s what the USDA rule is expected to define.

Carbon intensity on the farm

“These are essentially the audit and verification requirements if you’re going to claim that your feedstock — your corn and soybeans — has a low carbon footprint,” Hora explained. “We know that in this rule is also an updated feedstock CI calculator to calculate the farmer’s carbon emission reductions.”

CI stands for carbon intensity. In simple terms, it measures how much carbon is produced growing a bushel of corn or soybeans.

And according to Hora, lowering that score could eventually create new revenue opportunities for farmers and landowners.

“The biggest opportunity for farmers is to quantify the carbon intensity of their crop and lower that carbon intensity, therefore potentially earning more financial upside,” Hora said.

How can farmers improve their carbon scores?

That’s where regenerative practices come into play.

Hora says farmers can improve their carbon scores through practices already gaining traction across the Midwest: reduced tillage, no-till systems, cover crops, manure applications and more efficient fertilizer management.

“You lower your carbon intensity by better fertilizer management, better yield, less tillage, no-till or low tillage, and using cover crops,” he said. “It’s a cool program that can reward what I think is good behavior: building soil health.”

For farmland owners, that could eventually influence tenant conversations, lease structures, and even long-term land values.

What is 45Z's value for biofuels?

If ethanol plants begin paying premiums for low-carbon grain, producers farming with documented regenerative practices may hold a financial advantage. That could make farms with strong conservation histories more attractive in certain regions.

Hora believes the scale of this program is what separates it from previous sustainability efforts.

“Forty percent of the crop that we grow in this country — corn and soybeans — goes into biofuels,” he said. “Therefore, 40% of the corn and soybean lands will be directly impacted by this rule.”

45Z will be a key topic – finalized rules or not – during Hora’s annual TopSoil Summit in Riverside, Iowa. He expects the crowd size to swell if the Trump administration releases the final rules before Hora’s June 10 event.

Tom Vilsack, who served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture when the Biden administration introduced 45Z, will serve as one of the keynotes for the summit. So will Renewable Fuels Association CEO Geoff Cooper.

If the new 45Z rules don’t go public before the summit starts, then Hora and his keynotes will get the audience ready for the changes ahead and for the potential that 45Z will have.

45Z will be a “game changer,” Hora believes, regardless of when the final rules arrive.