CRISTEL ZOEBISCH

Delivered a one-pager of policy proposals to increase support for intermediate crops, also known as winter hardy oilseeds, to all personal offices of members that sit on the Agriculture Committees in both the House and the Senate, and held a meeting with Chairman Thompson's House Agriculture Committee staff to advocate for inclusion of those provisions in upcoming farm bill packages.

Met with Representative McCollum's office to understand the appropriations process for Defense and request support from the Representative for an appropriations request for FY27. Also met with Senator Heinrich's office to discuss potential support for an appropriations request for FY27 and emailed Senator Baldwin's office requesting support for intermediate crops appropriations requests for FY27.

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Expressed opposition with members of the Agriculture Committee in the House and Senate for a specific provision under Section 70521 of One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1) entailing the exclusion of indirect land use changes in determining the emissions rate for the 45Z tax credit, as this provision impacts intermediate crops' competitive advantage over other biofuel feedstocks. This issue was raised with Senators Klobuchar, Grassley, Durbin, Smith, and Moran, as well as Representatives Craig, Sorensen, Newhouse, and Finstad.

Expressed support for report language included in the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (H.R.4121) regarding support for intermediate crops, such as winter camelina and domesticated field pennycress. Circulated the report language of interest with the following offices and advocated for inclusion of this report language in the Senate Agriculture Appropriations bill (S. 4690): Representatives Finstad, Craig, Harris, Aderholt, Pingree, Valadao, Underwood, Moolenaar, Gluesenkamp Perez, Newhouse, Kaptur, Letlow, Wasserman Schultz, Cline, Hinson, Franklin, Mann, Strong, and Kustoff; as well as Senators Durbin, Klobuchar, Grassley, Heinrich, Peters, Shaheen, Hoeven, Baldwin, Moran, and Rounds.

Expressed opposition for a specific provision under Section 70521 of One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1) entailing the exclusion of indirect land use changes in determining the emissions rate for the 45Z tax credit, as this provision impacts intermediate crops' competitive advantage over other biofuel feedstocks. This issue was raised with Senators Klobuchar, Grassley, Durbin, Smith, and Moran, as well as Representatives Craig, Sorensen, Newhouse, McCollum, Fischbach, and Finstad.

Socialized a proposal to amend the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) [7 U.S.C. Section 8111] to include dedicated support for "intermediate crops" referring to winter annual oilseed crops like winter camelina and field pennycress as eligible feedstocks for biofuel production. The proposal is for consideration in the upcoming Farm Bill [no bill number yet]. This was discussed with Representatives Finstad, McCollum, and House Agriculture Committee Minority Staff, as well as with Senators Smith and Durbin.

Appropriations requests were submitted to Representatives Newhouse, Underwood, McCollum and Senators Baldwin, Heinrich, and Peters asking for report language to be added to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) program, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative [7 U.S.C. Section 450i(b)], and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to support research into "intermediate crops" like winter camelina and field pennycress as biofuel feedstocks. In-person meetings to discuss these requests were held with Representatives Finstad and McCollum, and Senators Smith and Heinrich, as well.