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New biomass crop program has 1 Ind. plant; 1 pending

By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — New in the 2008 farm bill is the Biomass Crop Assistance Program, or BCAP, made up of two parts of financial support: collection, harvest, storage and transportation matching payment that is a 50/50 match for delivery of eligible biomass material to a federally-qualified energy plant; and help for conversion of land to grow biomass crop.

The 50/50 match – up to $45 a ton – allows a certified buyer to offer biomass growers more money than their noncertified competitors can afford, but without costing the buyer as much – since the federal government pays half. (Example: A plant paying $35 a ton isn’t as attractive as one paying $45; if the second one is the only one certified, its investment is $22.50 per ton … much less than $35.)

Gail Peas, Indiana Farm Service Agency (FSA) conservation program chief, said BCAP funding is actually part of the Energy Title, though it is administered through the FSA. It does not pay for biomass that is considered a Title 1 crop, such as corn, though corn stover and cobs are eligible.

The catch, she said, is crop residue usage must conform to a special conservation plan. Farmers can’t simply rip cut stalks out of the ground, since a certain amount is considered necessary to decay nutrients back into the soil and protect it from erosion.
Elsewhere, worries have been expressed that since BCAP accepts fresh wood waste, this could lead to over-logging and thinning of American forestland. Peas said like crop residue, wood must be harvested in accordance with a forest plan, and Michelle Howell, Indiana FSA conservation program specialist, said the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will be monitoring wood harvest to try to control program abuse.

Too, whole big trees and logs are not listed as “eligible biomass” – eligible products are limited to forest thinnings, slash, wood chips, bark and sawdust. Some immediately recycled or processed wood products may be sold to a plant, such as briquettes or pellets – as opposed to pallets, furniture or construction waste, since this wood is often treated with chemicals, varnish or paint.

So far, Indiana has one approved facility for biomass, which is Pennington Seed in Noblesville. One other application is under review in Washington, D.C. At any rate, the FSA has not yet received its funding for fiscal year 2010 from the OMB, so growers can’t contract with Pennington or anyone else just yet and get the matching payment.

For information on these programs, go online to www.fsa.usda.gov

12/2/2009