The Tremont Cooperative Grain Co. and Alto Ingredients 45Z program — Tremont as the preferred provider of low-carbon corn. Limited space. Priority to producers who enroll for the 2026 crop and to bushels delivered to Tremont Co-op locations during harvest. Three-year program. Producers enroll their landlords automatically. Questions: Mike Hainline or Joe Logsdon, 309-925-4981.
Pre-enroll now →Tremont Cooperative Grain Co.
CI scores are real values from the USDA FD-CIC Ver 1.1.1, for our draw-area counties. Payment starts at a score of 4,928 g CO₂e/bu (CI 22.4) and is worth 10¢ per bushel, plus 2.5¢ for every full point (220 g) below.
Nothing here is money you are owed. All four have to happen, or the payment is zero — for everyone:
Per acre at 225 bu, best option first.
| Practice combination | CI g CO₂e/bu | ¢/bu | $/acre |
|---|
A conventional crop — one grown with no qualifying low-carbon practice — is assigned the default national CI of 6,028 g CO₂e/bu (CI 27.4), not its own field-level score. So it sits above the 4,928 (CI 22.4) threshold and earns nothing.
The favorable score that our high yields produce is not claimable without a documented practice. Adopting any qualifying practice flips the field to reduced-CI and unlocks its actual field-level FD-CIC score — which is already well below the national default because of yield. That's why even the first practice steps up sharply from $0.
USDA scores nitrogen use intensity — pounds of N per bushel — not your nitrogen rate on its own. The national benchmark is 0.98 lbs N per bushel. At 180 lbs of N, that's 1.00 at 180 bu (just over the line) and 0.72 at 250 bu (well under).
So cutting nitrogen and raising yield count the same way. It also means the weaker practices — reduced till alone, inhibitor alone — may not clear the threshold at lower yields. Cover crops and no-till clear it at any yield.
Payment/bu = first point + rate × each full point (220 g CO₂e/bu) below the threshold; partial points are not rounded up. CI in parentheses is the same score in fuel units (g/bu ÷ 220). The national default of 6,028 g CO₂e/bu is the value FD-CIC Ver 1.1.1 assigns conventional corn.
Each practice CI is a field-level corn score computed directly from the USDA FD-CIC Ver 1.1.1 macro workbook, with no manure applied. The workbook was run 18,480 times across seven yields (150–300 bu), eight nitrogen rates (100–240 lbs), five inhibitor levels and every distinct scoring zone in Illinois. FD-CIC returns identical results for counties sharing a zone, so all 102 Illinois counties are covered exactly. This table interpolates between those runs and matches the workbook to within 0.03%.
Payment ≠ 45Z credit. The rate is a Tremont program payment and is illustrative, not a committed term. The underlying credit still needs Treasury to fold the FD-CIC into 45ZCF-GREET before producers can claim enhanced credits. Not tax advice — verify with your advisor. USDA FD-CIC: usda.gov/usda-fdcic
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Tremont Cooperative Grain Co.
CI values from USDA FD-CIC Ver 1.1.1, all 102 Illinois counties. Payment terms illustrative and subject to change.