Assistance program
Biomass Crop Assistance Program
$1.7 Million committed in FY2018–FY2024
- Agency
- Farm Service Agency, Agriculture, Department of
- Assistance
- Direct Payments With Unrestricted Use
- CFDA number
- 10.087
- What it does
- The purpose of BCAP is to encourage the production of biofuels. BCAP accomplishes this by providing funding for agricultural and forest land owners and operators to receive matching payments for certain eligible material sold to qualified biomass conversion facilities for conversion to heat, power, bio based products, or advanced biofuels. It also provides funding for producers of eligible crops of renewable biomass within specified project areas to receive establishment payments and annual payments.
- Who benefits
- Owners and operators of agricultural and non-industrial private forest land will receive the ultimate benefits because it will provide financial assistance to establish, produce, and deliver biomass feedstocks. Eligible material owners who are the person or entity having the right to collect or harvest eligible material, who has the risk of loss in the material that is delivered to an eligible facility and who has directly or by agent delivered or intends to deliver the eligible material to a qualified biomass conversion facility.
- Who applies
- To be eligible to enter into a BCAP contract for the purposes of receiving an annual payment or establishment payments, a person or legal entity must be an owner, operator, or tenant of eligible land within a project area. Eligible land must be agricultural land or nonindustrial private forest land. Eligible agricultural land includes cropland; grassland; pastureland, rangeland, hayland, and other land on which food fiber, or other agricultural products are produced or capable of being legally produced for which a valid conservation plan exists and is implemented. Ineligible land is as follows: (1) Federal lands; (2) State-owned, municipal, or other local government-owned lands; (3) Native sod; and (4) Land that is already enrolled in CCC’s CRP, Wetlands Reserve Program, or Grassland Reserve Program. Eligible crops for annual and establishment payments are renewable plant materials such as feed grains, other agricultural commodities, or other plants and trees, and algae; waste materials including vegetative waste, materials, such as woods wastes and wood residues, animal waste and byproducts, such as fats, oils, greases, and manure, food waste, and yard waste. Ineligible crops are any crop eligible to receive payments under Title I of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (See 8-LP, paragraph 126 and 7-CN for Title I commodities); and any plant that is invasive or noxious or has the potential to become invasive or noxious. Eligible materials for matching payments include various types of renewable biomass collected or harvested directly from the land in accordance with an approved conservation plan, forest stewardship plan, or an equivalent plan before transport and delivery to the biomass conversion facility. Materials will only be eligible if USDA determines that there is no higher value use for that material within a reasonable distance of the biomass conversion facility. Matching payments are not available for the following products: (1) Material that is whole grain from any crop that is eligible to receive; payments under Title I of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 or an amendment made by that title, including, but not limited to, barley, corn, grain sorghum, oats, rice, or wheat; honey; or material that is mohair; certain oilseeds such as canola, crambe, flaxseed, mustard seed, rapeseed, safflower seed, soybeans, sesame seed, and sunflower seeds; peanuts; pulse crops such as small chickpeas, lentils, and dry peas; dairy products; sugar; wool; and cotton boll fiber; (2) Animal waste and by-products of animal waste including fats, oils, greases, and manure; (3) Food waste and yard waste; and (4) Algae. All eligible material must be harvested or collected directly from the land by the eligible material owner according to a conservation, forest stewardship, or equivalent plan and be separated from the higher value product before the point of delivery. Woody biomass harvested or collected outside of project area contracts is limited to eligible material resulting from preventative treatments to address fire fuel load reduction, insect or disease outbreaks, or restore ecosystem health. Woody biomass harvested or collected outside of project area contracts is limited to eligible materials that do not have an existing market for non-biomass use and cannot be co-mingled with higher product value materials. Eligible material owner, for purposes of the matching payment, means a person or entity having the right to collect or harvest eligible material, who has the risk of loss in the material that is delivered to an eligible facility and who has directly or by agent delivered or intends to deliver the eligible material to a qualified biomass conversion facility, including: (1) For eligible material harvested or collected from private lands, including cropland, the owner of the land, the operator or producer conducting farming operations on the land, or any other person designated by the owner of the land; and (2) For eligible material harvested or collected from public lands, a person having the right to harvest or collect eligible material pursuant to a contract or permit with the US Forest Service or other appropriate Federal agency, such as a timber sale contract, stewardship contract or agreement, service contract or permit, or related applicable Federal land permit or contract, and who has submitted a copy of the permit or contract authorizing such collection to CCC. Eligible facilities are biomass conversion facilities that convert or propose to convert renewable biomass into heat, power, bio based products, or advanced biofuels and have been approved for the BCAP program by the CCC.
- Authorized by
- 7 U.S.C. § 801
Committed by fiscal year
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
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- Some recipients aren't itemized
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- Awards, counted once
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- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments