Updated Farm Bill supports ethanol biofuel production

The 2014 Agricultural Act (farm bill), is providing crucial funding for ethanol biofuels, as well as investment in infrastructure and development.

The bill announced $881 million (€630 million) will be offered in energy funding levels. This money is going to be spent on primary energy programmes to aid farmers' development of new biofuels from non-food sources. The $881 million backing will be spent over a 10-year period.

The Rural Energy for America Programme (REAP), the largest programme, will receive $185 million (€133 million) more in funding over the next five years. REAP gives grants and loan guarantee incentives to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to give them access to an array of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

With an increased number of biofuel producers concentrating their efforts towards second-generation biofuels, The Advanced Biofuel Payment Programme, which gives payments to producers to aid and expand advanced biofuels production refined from sources other than corn kernel starch, has been given a guaranteed sum of $15 million (€11 million).

The Feedstock Flexibility Programme for Bioenergy Producers, which supports the continued domestic production of biofuels from surplus sugar, has been extended.

'I don't plan on kicking my feet up and relaxing. I have already started to make sure the law is implemented properly and in a way that works for our state,' Heidi Heitkamp, the US Senator, said after the 2014 farm bill was signed into law.