![]() Secretary Vilsack has recognized the biobased economy as one of the four pillars of rural economic growth, in addition to production agriculture, local and regional food systems, and conservation and natural resources. Biofuels lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduce dependence on foreign oil, give businesses and consumers more energy options and create well-paying American jobs. USDA has also helped jumpstart efforts to provide a reliable supply of advanced plant materials for biofuels. Through its Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), for example, USDA is incentivizing more than 850 growers and landowners farming nearly 48,000 acres to establish and produce dedicated, non-food energy crops for delivery to energy conversion facilities. To ensure those feedstocks are put to use, USDA has invested in the work needed to create advanced biofuels refineries. USDA has supported efforts to build six new biorefineries to produce advanced biofuels in Louisiana, Georgia, Oregon, Nevada, North Carolina, and Iowa, in addition to two existing facilities in New Mexico and Florida previously supported by the program. USDA has also worked with agencies to strengthen markets for biobased products. Approximately 2,000 products now carry USDA’s BioPreferred label, and approximately 150 applications for the BioPreferred label are in process. Companies in over 40 countries on six continents are now participating in USDA’s BioPreferred program. USDA has partnered with the U.S. Navy and Department of Energy to accelerate the development of domestic, competitively-priced “drop-in” diesel and jet fuel substitutes. Awards under the Defense Production Act were announced in 2014 for three companies (Fulcrum Sierra Biofuels, LLC; Emerald Biofuels, LLC; and Red Rock Biofuels, LLC) to scale up production capacity to supply the U.S. Navy with over 100 million gallons per year of advanced drop-in biofuel beginning in 2016 and 2017 at a price competitive with their petroleum counterparts. USDA has invested $332 million over the past six years to accelerate research on renewable energy ranging from genomic research on bioenergy feedstock crops, to development of biofuel conversion processes and costs/benefit estimates of renewable energy production. President Obama’s plan for rural America has brought about historic investment and resulted in stronger rural communities. Under the President’s leadership, investments in housing, community facilities, businesses, infrastructure and renewable energy have empowered rural America to continue leading the way—strengthening America’s economy, small towns and rural communities. To create jobs in rural communities, drive economic growth, and help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, USDA will continue to aggressively pursue investments in renewable energy. # USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users). |