October 22, 2013. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development administers a program known as the biorefinery assistance program. This program was created in 2008 through the Farm Bill and was designed to provide loan guarantees to feasible commercial scale facilities to assist in the development of promising new technologies for advanced biofuels.
A recent announcement by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated that the USDA has made $181 million available to develop new commercial scale biorefineries or retrofit existing facilities so that they can develop and produce advanced biofuels. Secretary Vilsak stated that the goal of this program is to “expand the number of commercial biorefineries in operation in the U.S. that are producing advanced biofuels from non-food sources.”
Eligibility in this program extends to Indian tribes, State or local governments, corporations, farmer co-ops, agricultural producer associations, higher education institutions, rural electric co-ops, public power entities, or a combination of any of the above. Applications for the current funding available under the biorefinery assistance program are due by January 30, 2014. For additional information on the application procedures please see the October 2, 2013 Federal Register announcement.
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