Your field
Total from every source (fall, spring, sidedress, starter), averaged over the field.
Share of your N that received a nitrification inhibitor.
Your estimate
Where you land on Elite Octane’s schedule
What would move your premium
What each practice is worth on your numbers
Premium per bushel, with the carbon intensity score underneath. Your current choice is outlined.
How much nitrogen is worth it?
Weighs the bushels university trials say you would give up by cutting nitrogen against the fertilizer you save and the extra the plant pays for a lower carbon score.
Know your price per ton? Convert it to dollars per pound of N
Enter your price per ton to convert it.
Anhydrous carries 1,640 lb of N per ton, so divide the price per ton by 1,640. UAN 32% carries 640 lb per ton, so divide by 640. The converted price replaces the nitrogen price above.
Fine-tune for your field
Leave this blank to use the university curve as published. If you enter a rate, the curve shifts so extra nitrogen stops paying at your rate.
See the full curve and the numbers
Sources: Iowa State University Extension PM 2015 (Sawyer et al.), Iowa corn after soybean, Table 4; Iowa State’s current Corn Nitrogen Rate Calculator, which puts the best rate for corn after soybean near 137 lb (our “current” curve shifts the 2006 data to match, which is our adjustment, not Iowa State’s); University of Nebraska–Lincoln CropWatch, Wortmann, Feb. 5, 2019 (18 irrigated trials, $4 corn). Trial averages hide field-to-field and year-to-year differences, and university guidance puts most fields within about 20 to 30 lb of any single rate, so read the green bar as a range. The Nebraska “trial average” curve comes from 18 irrigated trials with soybean, soil-nitrate and irrigation-water credits built in, so it is not a recommendation for a specific field. UNL’s own N equation (Nebraska Extension EC117 and G74-174) and its 2024 NebGuide G2365 give rates that depend on yield goal, soil nitrate, organic matter and water nitrate; UNL CropWatch (2020) puts the average economic optimum for irrigated corn after soybean on sandy loam or lighter soils near 174 lb N at a 220 bu goal. The Nebraska starting point scales UNL’s statewide 174 lb at 220 bu in proportion to your expected yield, which is our assumption, not UNL’s. Not agronomic advice, so check your rates with your agronomist.
Where your emissions come from
Before you count on this number
Your official score comes from USDA’s own calculator, and plants ask for its printout. Use USDA’s FD-CIC web tool for the real score. This estimator follows the same logic so you can see what moves the number.
Actual yield is at 15.5% moisture. Expected yield is the approved yield on your crop insurance policy. No policy? Use the county’s RMA transitional yield or FSA ARC benchmark yield.
No-till or reduced till only counts if your field passes from last harvest to this harvest score 0.075 or lower (no-till) or 0.252 or lower (reduced till) in USDA’s T-DISC web tool. This estimator does not check your passes. ADM says full no-till credit also requires no-till for at least four of the next five years.
Elite Octane and Siouxland Ethanol. The two plants publish the same 2026 premium schedule and list the same dates: reports due Feb. 1, 2027, a third-party audit in February or March 2027, and 2026 crop payments in July 2028. Enrollment is first come, first served and can close early. Elite Octane’s report asks you to initial that you wrote a nutrient budget before applying nutrients, based on soil tests under two years old or an unrelated agricultural expert. We have not seen Siouxland’s report form, so ask them how they handle the budget.
ADM re:generations. The 2026 and 2027 programs pay $0.25 at 2,149 or lower, $0.20 at 2,150 to 3,199, $0.15 at 3,200 to 4,499 and a guaranteed $0.05 at 4,500 or higher. Corn must be sold directly to ADM at a listed location during the delivery window (Sept. 1, 2026 to Aug. 31, 2027 for the 2026 program). Non-GMO corn does not qualify. ADM says availability may be limited, first come, first served.
ADM combines your deliveries and fills your best-scoring production first, so if you deliver only part of your corn to ADM, those bushels earn the highest rate. This estimator assumes all bushels from this field go to the plant. ADM’s flyer doesn’t name its calculator, though its units and practices match USDA’s, so check your result at ADMregenerations.com.
ADM locations on the flyer include Burlington, Clinton and Cedar Rapids in Iowa; Columbus, Enola, Fremont, Fullerton, Lincoln, Newman Grove and Wisner in Nebraska; Marshall, Minneapolis and Winona in Minnesota; and many in Illinois.
GPRE (Green Plains) Farm Forward, all locations. Premiums by score: $0.25 at 2,749 or lower, $0.20 at 2,750 to 3,499, $0.15 at 3,500 to 4,249, $0.10 at 4,250 to 4,999 and $0.05 at 5,000 or higher. Green Plains’ supplier letter says providing your data earns the $0.05 on corn you delivered directly, and a $1,000 bonus goes to growers randomly picked for an audit. Corn must be sold and delivered directly to a Green Plains Grain Company location between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2026, so 2026 corn delivered in 2027 does not count. Enrollment and scoring run through the Gradable app, and Gradable’s data sheet says scores come from USDA’s FD-CIC. The program launched at Green Plains’ three Nebraska locations (Oct. 19, 2026 press release) and has since expanded, including Shenandoah, Iowa. Confirm with your Green Plains location that it is participating before counting on it.
Chief Ethanol (Hastings and Lexington). Chief scores with USDA FD-CIC and pays $0.007 per bushel for each 100 g CO₂e/bu your score is below the 6,000 g/bu national baseline, with no cap until a score of 0 (about $0.42). This estimator counts whole 100 g steps. Payments start Jan. 1, 2027 for the 2026 crop, are not tied to a grain contract, and require all documentation before payment.
E Energy Adams. The tiers shown are EEA’s published schedule for 2025 corn delivered Dec. 1, 2025 to Sept. 30, 2026: a 23.77 baseline, then about $0.01 to $0.018 per bushel for each full point below it, up to $0.35 below 0. That schedule is in grams per megajoule of ethanol, not grams per bushel, so this estimator converts your score using an assumed 233.5 MJ per bushel (2.9 gallons of ethanol per bushel). EEA has not published its conversion, so confirm it with them. For 2026 and later, EEA’s letter says it expects $0.05 to $0.25 per bushel, with certification through Incite.ag paid for by EEA. Corn already paid for carbon reductions elsewhere does not qualify. The 2026 tiers are not published yet.
SIRE (Council Bluffs, IA and Ord, NE). SIRE’s Low-CI Corn Program pays on every bushel from enrolled fields delivered to the plant, by field score at or below: $0.05 at 5,500, $0.10 at 4,500, $0.15 at 4,000, then $0.05 more for each 500 g lower, up to $0.55 at 0. Scores above 5,500 earn nothing. For the 2026 crop, payment is issued in July 2028, or you can take an upfront option at delivery once your data is received. For the 2025 crop, SIRE pays a flat rate for data on corn already delivered, at Council Bluffs only. Enrollment runs through the Gradable app, is first come, first served and may close once SIRE reaches its target. SIRE asks for field boundaries, tillage, fertilizer and manure, cover crops and yield. Questions go to a SIRE merchandiser at 712-352-5088.
Manure is not modeled here yet.