Earlier this week, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) renewed in the 2014 Farm Bill was ready to start accepting applications June 16, 2014. The BCAP provides financial aid to timber operators, farmers, and ranchers who grow biomass products as well as those individuals and companies that harvest and deliver forest and agricultural biomass to appropriate biomass energy facilities. 

The Farm Bill authorized $25 million per year for the BCAP total, with half allocated to matching costs for biomass transportation costs and the other half to incentives for those who grow biomass-appropriate crops. The matching payments for transport are slated to begin as early as this summer to help aid in the removal of dead and diseased trees from key public lands. The crop assistance payments will begin in 2015.

With the cost of transporting forest biomass from the forest to the power plant being the key limiting factor in utilizing it as an alternative to pile burning on-site for fuels management work in the forests, this program could highlight the value of biomass energy as a key partner in good fuels management.

For additional information, please contact RCRC Legislative Advocate Cyndi Hillery at (916) 447-4806 orchillery@rcrcnet.org.