When you think of sustainable energy, what comes to mind? For most people, solar and wind power would top the list, but many may not realize that sustainable energy can also be generated from on-farm plant matter and animal waste. Many farmers are already using this method, called “bioenergy”, which is produced from a variety of […]
Biomass Crop Assistance Program
Can Bioenergy Production Be Sustainable?
The National Wildlife Federation has released a new policy paper, Growing a Green Energy Future: A Primer and Vision for Sustainable Biomass Energy, that concludes that the U.S. can do much more to improve the conservation and environmental performance of bioenergy production. The paper lays out the changes needed in U.S. policy for bioenergy production […]
Action Alert: Help Make Next Generation Biofuels Sustainable
The addition of an Energy Title to the 2008 Farm Bill was an important acknowledgment of the critical and emerging role for agriculture in the production of renewable energy. Particularly promising was the creation of the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) to provide incentives to farmers and foresters for the production of energy efficient and resource […]
Kemp responds to comments on “BCAP Boondoggle”
By Loni Kemp, consultant to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in response to a comment by FSA employee Paul Harte on the article “BCAP Boondoggle” from January 11, 2010. Mr. Harte from USDA is quick to accuse, but the BCAP law is quite clear about where there is discretion that the Farm Service […]
BCAP Boondoggle
By Loni Kemp, consultant to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy While the Biomass Crop Assistance Program designed to help farmers plant new energy crops languishes in administrative limbo—the BCAP that NSAC and others fought so hard for in the 2008 farm bill—the other BCAP has grown into a monster. What started out as […]