Accreditation means a formal recognition by an authorized body that a third-party verifier operates according to a set of standards.

Agricultural expert means persons who are employed by the Cooperative Extension System or the agricultural departments of universities, or other Agricultural Experts approved by Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, whose research or occupation is related to the specific crop or practice for which such expertise is sought.

Audit means a process for obtaining relevant information about an entity's practices or processes, recordkeeping, and management and evaluating it objectively.

Biofuel means liquid or gaseous fuels and fuel blending components produced from biomass feedstock.

Biofuel feedstock crop means a crop that can be used as raw material for biofuel production.

Biofuel Feedstock Report means a report generated by a farm producer that includes documentation of carbon intensity calculations and the Farm Producer Attestation.

Biofuel refiner means an entity that refines biomass feedstocks into a biofuel.

Biomass means any organic material other than oil and natural gas (or any product thereof), and coal (including lignite) or any product thereof.

Carbon intensity (CI) means a measure of greenhouse gas (GHG) performance reflecting the estimated quantity of GHG emissions associated with one unit of production. For biofuel feedstock crops, carbon intensity is expressed as grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) per bushel of produced crop (g CO₂e/bushel).

Conventional crop means a crop that is produced without the use of low-carbon practices according to this part.

Cover crop means grasses, legumes, and forbs planted for seasonal vegetative cover, and not intended for harvest, between harvested production crops in rotation.

Crop interval means the time immediately following harvest or termination of one cash crop through harvest or termination of the next cash crop in the rotation, including fallow periods and cover crops.

Crushing yield means a number representing the amount of oilseed produced from crushing one bushel of seed oil crop. Crushing yield is usually expressed in pounds per bushel (lbs/bu).

Farm means a business entity that produces (that is, grows and harvests) biofuel feedstock crops.

Farm producer means a person who is involved in making decisions for the farm operation. These decisions may include planting, harvesting, management, and marketing. The farm producer may be the owner, a member of the owner's household, a hired manager, a tenant, a renter, or a sharecropper. If a person rents land to others or has land worked on shares, they are considered the farm producer only for the land retained for their own operation.

Farm Producer Attestation means a document generated by the farm producer, who has operational control, that provides assurance that the farm producer followed standards in this part. The Farm Producer Attestation is included in the Biofuel Feedstock Report.

Feedstock means raw material that is converted into fuels and coproducts during the fuel production process.

Field means a part of a farm that is separated from the balance of the farm by permanent boundaries, such as fences, permanent waterways, woodlands, roads, croplines, or other similar features. In addition to a permanent, contiguous boundary, a field has common land cover and management.

First point of aggregation means the entity that purchases crops directly from the farm. Entities serving as the first point of aggregation distribute, trade, or further process these feedstocks.

Intensive tillage means the implementation of a tillage system that involves extensive inversion or mixing of the soil with implements such as a moldboard, disk, or chisel plow. Intensive tillage does not meet the standards of reduced till or no-till in this part.

Intermediary entity means any entity in the biofuel supply chain that falls between the first point of aggregation and the biofuel refiner. Intermediary entities may include crushers, processors, storage facilities, or other entities.

Leguminous cover crop means a cover crop that fixes atmospheric nitrogen and is planted for seasonal vegetative cover, and not intended for harvest, between harvested production crops in rotation.

Low-carbon agriculture (low-carbon) practices means agricultural management, practices, systems, and technologies that have been demonstrated to generally reduce GHG emissions or increase soil carbon sequestration.

Management unit means field, group of fields, or other land units of the same land use and having the same management.

Manure means feces, urine, other excrement, and bedding produced by livestock including dairy, swine, beef and poultry.

Mass balance system means a system in which materials or products with specified characteristics are mixed with materials or products without some or all of these characteristics, resulting in a claim on a part of the output, proportional to the input.

No-till means the implementation of a tillage system that limits the amount of disturbance to soil from mixing or inversion, creating only minor disturbances to the upper layers of soil throughout the crop interval.

Nutrient management means the practice of managing the rate, source, placement, and timing of plant nutrients and soil amendments to optimize their economic benefits while minimizing environmental impacts.

Operational control means authority possessed by the person who runs the farm, making day-to-day management decisions. A person with operational control could be an owner, hired manager, cash tenant, share tenant, or a partner. If land is rented or worked on shares, the tenant or renter has operational control.

Planting green means a system where a cover crop is left in place and a production crop is planted into the cover crop without prior termination.

Process means any mechanical operation that transforms the physical properties of a product. Processing includes extracting oil from seed oil crops (for example, soybeans).

Reduced-carbon intensity (reduced-CI) crop means a crop that is produced according to this part.

Reduced-carbon intensity (reduced-CI) processed product means a product derived from reduced-CI crops, between the farm and first biofuel refiner, used for the production of biofuel.

Reduced till means the implementation of a tillage system that limits disturbance to soil from mixing or inversion throughout the crop interval but allows minimal tillage and soil disturbance.

Spring canola means a canola crop that is planted during or between the months of January and June.

Third-party verifier means an accredited person or organization independent of the verified entity that performs a verification activity or audit.

Tillage Disturbance Index for Soil Carbon (T-DISC) means a numerical value between 0-1 that estimates the intensity of soil disturbance caused by a tillage system. The higher the value, the more soil disturbance and higher potential for soil carbon loss. The T-DISC value applies to the entire tillage system used in producing a crop. The components of the rating include tillage type, mixing efficiency, and tillage depth.