3 June 2008
EXPERTS SAY FARM BILL WILL SPEED MOVE TO CELLULOSIC ETHANOL
Provisions in the new farm bill will help speed the transition from corn-based ethanol to fuels made from biomass, industry executives said Thursday. Under the Biomass Crop Assistance Program, farmers in a defined project area near a cellulosic ethanol plant could choose to enroll land for dedicated energy crops. Farmers would be covered for up to 75 percent of costs to establish the crop, and could receive annual rental payments to compensate them for lost opportunity costs, said Sen. John Thune. “What we need is not less biofuels, we need more biofuels,” said Thune, who introduced some of the incentives in the Senate last year.
