Indigo Ag and Red Trail Energy Collaborate on Sustainable Biofuels to Maximize Benefits From Clean Fuel Tax Credit Programs

Companies will leverage Indigo Ag's proven measurement, verification and reporting capabilities to calculate field level carbon intensity and unlock new opportunities for fuel and agricultural decarbonization

BOSTON, April 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Indigo Ag, the innovative leader and trusted partner in sustainable agriculture, and Red Trail Energy (RTE), a North Dakota bioethanol plant operator, announced a collaboration to source low carbon intensity (CI) corn to support farmers using sustainable practices and benefit from emerging clean fuels market tax credit programs.

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Utilizing Indigo's proven measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) and remote sensing capabilities, RTE will work with Indigo Ag to measure field level carbon intensity (CI) and identify, enroll and verify farmers with the highest potential to produce low CI feedstock. Indigo Ag will produce the data required for tax credit compliance, including data collection, verification and analysis of eligible practices in GREET and other clean fuel calculators. This level of data collection will enable RTE to maximize benefits from clean fuel markets across the U.S. and Canada, starting with the 45Z tax credit in January 2025.

"Red Trail Energy is a leader in fuel decarbonization and we are looking forward to working with leading companies like Indigo Ag as our sustainable biofuels partner," said Jodi Johnson, CEO of Red Trail Energy. "Indigo Ag's science backed MRV capabilities will ensure we can receive all of the benefits from clean fuel market tax crediting programs and share those benefits with growers who are doing the hard work on the ground."

RTE will be amongst the first ethanol producers to take advantage of the Clean Fuel Production Credit, or 45Z, in January 2025, utilizing 2024 crops. 45Z will pay 2 cents per gallon for every carbon intensity (CI) point reduction below the minimum threshold, and will be the first clean fuels program to enable the generation of credits from lower CI agricultural feedstock in a meaningful way. Sustainable farming practices like cover crops or no till have the potential to lower ethanol CI scores by more than 20 points.

Indigo Ag's full stack of capabilities to generate carbon assets from row-crop agriculture has been in operation for six years and has helped some of the world's largest companies make progress against their climate goals following stringent policy guidelines for carbon credit offsets, scope 3 emissions and water conservation. These capabilities will be used to help RTE assess their supply chain and leverage the CI of their feedstock draw areas to help maximize 45Z tax credit generation.

"Indigo Ag has all of the capabilities in science, policy and technology to offer a proven solution that connects physical crops with sustainability attributes throughout the agricultural supply chain, ensuring real environmental impacts with the highest data quality standards," said Dean Banks, president and CEO of Indigo Ag. "We look forward to working with Red Trail Energy through the dynamic biofuels environment to ensure they capture all of the benefits available to them from low carbon biofuels programs."

For more information, visit Indigo Ag's Low Carbon Biofuels page.

About Indigo Ag

Indigo Ag is the innovative leader and trusted partner in sustainable agriculture and biological solutions. Powered by science and technology, Indigo helps farmers and agribusinesses optimize today's yields and profitability, while nourishing the soil for better tomorrows.

The company's biotrinsic® natural microbial solutions help farmers maximize crop performance by empowering plants to combat environmental and biological stresses and improve nutrient access. Indigo's Sustainability solutions include its carbon and sustainable crop programs that enable farmers to choose how to best profit from their sustainable practices while promoting practices that help land keep its value for future generations. Indigo is the largest and fastest growing issuer of nature-based, registry issued agricultural soil carbon credits in the world and currently the only company offering high quality agricultural carbon credits and scope 3 emissions reductions at scale to help corporations reach their sustainability goals. The company's state-of-the-art digital software facilitates greater efficiency, accuracy and profitability for crop transactions.

Established in 2013 and operating in 14 countries around the world, Indigo Ag turns on-the-farm sustainable practice into value for farmers, agribusinesses, and corporations, creating a world with thriving farmers and environmentally prosperous companies.

About Red Trail Energy

Red Trail Energy, LLC (RTE) is a North Dakota-based investor group formed to finance, construct and operate a corn-based bioethanol production facility located near Richardton, North Dakota. RTE produces 65 million gallons of bioethanol, using 23 million bushels of corn annually, also generating significant amounts of dried distillers grain, modified-wetcake, and corn oil.  The first facility permitted under ND state primacy to capture and store CO2 in a Class VI well, RTE captures 180,000 tons of biogenic CO2 from its fermentation process annually.  Operational since January 2007, RTE's mission is to create economic benefit for our investors, local communities, and the State of ND by converting regional corn production into ethanol and value-added products.

SOURCE Indigo Ag