Congress quietly blocks renewable energy tax credits on farmland
H.R. 1754 — FARM Act of 2025 · Filed by Thomas Tiffany (R-WI) · 6 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 27, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends the tax code to prohibit federal energy tax credits for solar and wind facilities placed on agricultural land by public utilities after the bill's enactment. Farmers and agricultural landowners lose a financial incentive to host renewable energy projects; utilities lose the tax benefit for siting such projects on farmland.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a targeted denial of existing federal tax credits for renewable energy projects sited on agricultural land by utilities. It is functionally a restriction on clean energy development in a specific context, not a broad tax reform or agricultural support measure.
What the text implies
- Reduces economic incentive for farmers to lease land for solar/wind, cutting off a potential revenue stream during agricultural downturns.
- Slows renewable energy deployment on underutilized agricultural land, potentially increasing pressure to site projects on non-agricultural land or in environmentally sensitive areas.
- May benefit incumbent fossil-fuel generators by reducing the competitiveness of renewable projects on farmland, a low-cost deployment zone.
- The definition of 'agricultural land' references the Food Security Act's 'eligible land' — a broad category that may capture land in transition or marginal use, expanding the scope of the credit denial.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens lose access to a federal incentive that could have reduced energy costs, increased renewable capacity, and provided supplemental income to farmers. The bill restricts a public benefit (tax credits) without replacing it, making renewable energy development on farmland less economically viable and slowing the transition to clean energy.
Who stands to gain
- fossil fuel generators and utilities
- conventional energy producers
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Code §48, Internal Revenue Code §45, Food Security Act of 1985 §1240A, IRC §136(c)(2), public utilities, agricultural landowners
Where it stands
6 cosponsors: 6 Republicans.
- Feb 27, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 27, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,899 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress quietly blocks renewable energy tax credits on farmland” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr1754 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.