The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will soon seek proposals to study the feasibility of providing crop insurance to producers of biofuel feedstocks, including corn stover, straw and woody biomass. These feasibility studies, funded by the Risk Management Agency (RMA) will join research efforts already underway for energy cane, switchgrass and camelina.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 established a mandate that the American economy use 36 billion gallons of renewable transportation fuel per year in its transportation fuel supply by 2022. Of that, 20 billion gallons are targeted to come from sources such as switchgrass, energy cane, woody biomass and other non-food feedstocks.
Two contracts will be funded by USDA. Those interested in applying should refer to the solicitations which will be available on FedBizOpps at http://www.fedbizopps.gov/ or on RMA’ website at http://www.rma.usda.gov/aboutrma/opportunities/.