Carbon intensity of Nebraska feedstuffs

Life-cycle carbon intensity of corn, soybeans, distillers grains, and soybean meal produced in Nebraska.

Status: Completed · Period: 2023–2026 · Team: Felipe Almeida, Richard Perrin, Lilyan Fulginiti, Elliott Dennis

About the study

This project estimates the carbon intensity (CI) that Nebraska producers can expect for their crops and for the co-products fed to beef cattle.

Objective

Estimate the expected life-cycle CI of corn and soybeans produced in Nebraska, by region and irrigation, and extend those estimates to distillers grains with solubles (DGS) and soybean meal (SBM).

Methods

• Two life-cycle assessment models: GREET FD-CIC (U.S. Department of Energy) and IFSM (U.S. Department of Agriculture).
• Three Nebraska regions (West, Central, East), each with irrigated and rainfed production.
• Value-based allocation of emissions between co-products (ethanol and DGS; soybean oil and SBM).

Main results

• Corn: expected CI of 0.29 (IFSM) and 0.25 (GREET) lb CO₂e per lb of grain dry matter, close to the U.S. default of 0.297.
• Soybeans: expected CI of 0.28 (IFSM) and 0.32 (GREET), compared with a U.S. default of 0.338.
• Irrigation: irrigated corn and soybeans have roughly 10% lower CI than rainfed crops.
• Distillers grains: drying raises CI. Modified DGS is about 23% higher than wet DGS, and dry DGS is about 50% higher (weighted averages of 0.20–0.23 for wet, 0.25–0.28 for modified, and 0.31–0.33 for dry DGS).
• Soybean meal: expected CI of 0.36 (IFSM) and 0.38 (GREET) kg CO₂e per kg of dry matter.

Outputs

Peer-reviewed articles

• Almeida, F. M. de S., Perrin, R., Fulginiti, L., & Dennis, E. (2026). The carbon intensity (CI) of co-products fed to beef cattle in the Northern Plains. Translational Animal Science, 10, txag137.
• Perrin, R., Almeida, F. M. de S., Fulginiti, L., & Dennis, E. (2026). Expected carbon intensity (CI) for Northern Plains corn and soybean. Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Management, 12, e70126.

Cornhusker Economics

• Almeida, F. M. de S., Perrin, R. K., Fulginiti, L. E., & Dennis, E. (2025). Expected carbon intensity (CI) of co-products fed to beef cattle in Nebraska. University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
• Perrin, R. K., Almeida, F. M. de S., Fulginiti, L. E., & Dennis, E. (2025). Expected carbon intensity (CI) of Nebraska corn and soybeans. University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Webinars

• Dennis, E., Almeida, F. M. de S., & Perrin, R. (March 2026). What’s the carbon footprint of your feed? New evidence on distillers’ grains and soybean meal. Center for Agricultural Profitability, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
• Dennis, E., Almeida, F. M. de S., & Perrin, R. (February 2026). Estimating what matters: Carbon intensity in corn and soybean markets. Center for Agricultural Profitability, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Conference presentations

• 2025 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting (Denver, Colorado) and 2025 Midwest Extension Farm Management and Outlook Conference (Omaha, Nebraska).

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