By SARAH B. AUBREY
Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — BCAP, or the Biomass Crop Assistance Program, administered through the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), has been much debated and discussed the past two years during its initial rollout.
Confusion about what the program actually funds, what and who are eligible and whether money is left to reach all interested producers has also been an issue. In late October 2010, USDA issued a Final Rule for BCAP, effectively outlining additional or revised provisions from the earlier Notice of Funds Available (NOFA).

BCAP is an incentive payment program available to farmers, ranchers and forest owners and meant to encourage the cultivation of biomass crops for energy. USDA information found at www.fsa.usda.gov said BCAP addresses “the chicken-and-egg challenge,” meaning it helps support the establishment of the market for biomass and financial incentives to help cultivate biomass crops.
Gail Peas, conservation/compliance program specialist with Indiana FSA, addressed some of the updates to BCAP with the final rule. “The largest change in the BCAP program since the publishing of the Final Rule is the addition of the BCAP Project Areas and Contracts,” she said.

“This provision allows for the development of geographic areas where producers within the area can deliver biomass to specified biomass conversion facilities under some special provisions. It also allows landowners within the geographic area to offer agricultural and non-industrial private forestland for enrollment into BCAP contracts to receive annual payments and establishment costs.”
Peas noted that matching payments, originally in BCAP, are still available but they have undergone revisions, too. Producers should contact their local FSA office if they have been a part of the program previously, to learn about new regulations.

Peas described the general process for producers interested in signing up to receive payments from biomass harvest. “The facility they are marketing to must be a BCAP-qualified facility, which requires the facility to apply for this provision through FSA and receive approval,” she cited as a first step.
A list of facilities may be found by contacting an FSA office. If a facility in a producer’s area is not already certified, that facility should contact the FSA and initiate the application process. Only deliveries to facilities qualified in the program are eligible to receive payment, and producers are required to enter into contracts validating this arrangement.

The second point is that producers must be in control of the biomass harvest process. “Biomass material must be harvested or collected directly from the land by the producers who will be marketing the biomass. All harvesting must be done according to a conservation or forest stewardship plan,” she explained.
Finally, materials marketed in the BCAP program cannot be marketed for other uses or additional “higher value” uses.

As for receiving payments, Peas said the process – managed through the FSA’s relationship with the Commodity Credit Corp. – should be straightforward.
“First of all, biomass material owners must enter into a delivery agreement with a BCAP facility. This agreement must specify the type of biomass to be delivered, price and timeframe for delivery,” she said. “The biomass material owners will then present the agreement and a Conservation Plan for the acreage to be harvested to FSA, for approval of BCAP matching payments.
“FSA obligates a $1 for $1 match for each dry ton contracted to be delivered in a two-year period, not to exceed $45 a ton. When deliveries are made, the biomass material owner must present to the local FSA office a settlement sheet and proof of payment from the facility. FSA will then issue matching payments.”
BCAP is legislated through the 2008 farm bill’s Energy Title and is Section 9011 of that legislation. Additional updates and possible cuts to the program are still potentially on the table.

Last December, the U.S. Senate considered cuts to several energy titles, including BCAP; however, according to a report published on Dec. 22, 2010 at www.farmenergy.org online: “Senate leadership dropped efforts to pass the Omnibus (spending cuts bill). Instead, on Dec. 21, the Senate passed (and the House agreed with) another stopgap continuing resolution that would maintain fiscal year 2010 spending levels through March 4, 2011.”

According to Peas, the BCAP program status is that it will proceed as expected: “At this time, FSA is implementing all facets of the BCAP program. A funding apportionment of $432 million was provided for 2011.”

Interested producers have several options for more information. The BCAP website contains information for facilities owners, biomass material owners and agricultural producers at www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA

Additionally, facility or materials owners are encouraged to contact their local FSA county offices or the FSA state office for more information.
Facilities wishing to complete applications necessary to become BCAP-certified should work directly with the FSA state office, which will guide the certification process.