Gevo and USDA sign deal to verify acreage of low-carbon corn

Gevo has finalised and executed a Notice of Grant and Agreement Award with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for a Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant of up to $30 million (€28 million) for its Climate-Smart Farm-to-Flight Programme.
This programme is aimed at tracking and quantifying the carbon-intensity (CI) impact of climate-smart practices while creating market incentives for low CI corn to help accelerate production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and low-CI ethanol.
With USDA support, this grant will play a pivotal role in expediting the adoption of climate-smart farming practices and immediate market expansion of field-tracked, low-CI corn destined for SAF production in the area surrounding Gevo’s previously announced Net-Zero 1 (NZ1) SAF plant, currently under development in Lake Preston, South Dakota.
"Our Farm-to-Flight Programme, under this USDA grant, aims to count all the carbon at the field level and reward farmers on a performance basis for delivering low-CI corn, as well as to accelerate the production of SAF to reduce dependency on fossil-based fuel," said Dr Paul Bloom, chief carbon officer and chief innovation Officer for Gevo, and head of verity.
"The programme will also focus on deploying our Verity Tracking platform with farmers to help them measure, report and verify their CI reductions."
"When Net-Zero 1 and other production facilities come online, the feedstocks in the programme will be a key to the equation," added Dr Patrick Gruber, CEO of Gevo.
"This Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant will help ensure we count all the carbon through the entire business system and reward farmers for the good work they are doing."