Congress extends farm biogas tax credit for one more year
H.R. 536 — Agricultural Environmental Stewardship Act of 2025 · Filed by Hillary Scholten (D-MI) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 16, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill extends a federal tax credit for biogas energy systems by one year, from December 31, 2024 to December 31, 2025. Farmers and other property owners who build biogas digesters (systems that capture methane from agricultural waste and convert it to energy) can claim a tax credit on their federal income taxes if construction begins after December 31, 2024. The extension allows more projects to qualify for the credit before it expires.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a one-year extension of an existing federal tax credit for biogas energy property. It is a routine tax-code amendment with no broader policy innovation or structural change.
What the text implies
- The one-year extension creates a cliff: projects must begin construction by Dec 31, 2025 to qualify, potentially concentrating investment activity in late 2025 and creating uncertainty for long-term biogas infrastructure planning.
- The credit's value depends on the underlying IRC 48(c)(7)(C) provision, which the bill does not restate; the actual credit amount, eligible property types, and phase-out rules remain in the existing statute and are not visible in this amendment.
- Agricultural operators may face timing pressure to initiate projects before the deadline, potentially leading to rushed permitting or construction decisions rather than optimal project planning.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill extends a tax incentive that reduces the cost of renewable energy infrastructure for farmers and agricultural operators, lowering barriers to adoption of cleaner energy. The extension is time-limited and narrowly targeted, but it provides a concrete financial benefit to property owners pursuing biogas energy projects without imposing costs on other citizens.
Who stands to gain
- agricultural operators and farmers with biogas projects
- biogas equipment manufacturers and installers
- renewable energy developers in the agricultural sector
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Section 48(c)(7)(C), biogas property, agricultural operators
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Jan 16, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 16, 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.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $130,176 in lobbying spend. A filing names 25 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Hillary Scholten, the sponsor, reported $769,940 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Milk Producers Federation — $130,176 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (436 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.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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