Senate Agriculture Committee

Price Loss Coverage Payments

PLC provides crop price support payments primarily to agricultural producers of corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, oilseeds, peanuts and pulse crops. If a crop price falls below a government-set minimum price, a subsidy payment is made. Payments are reduced on an acre-by-acre basis for producers who choose to grow fruits, vegetables or wild rice that are […]

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Biomass Crop Assistance Program

The Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) was intended to spur development of advanced biofuels derived from non-food and feed crops. The goal was to pay individuals and companies to plant perennial grasses, harvest agricultural residues, collect wood waste, store biomass and transport these materials to bioenergy facilities. Instead of achieving these goals, the program provided […]

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Biomass Research and Development

The Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) is a joint program between the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture that provides grants to companies, universities and government research centers to research, develop and demonstrate new ways to refine various feedstocks into biofuels or biobased chemicals and products. The program, originally created in the Biomass Research […]

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Biorefinery Assistance Program

This program, formerly the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program, provides loan guarantees of up to $250 million for the construction of commercial-scale biorefineries, the retrofitting of existing facilities to produce biofuels, or construction of renewable chemical and biobased manufacturing. To be eligible, fuels or products must be derived from renewable biomass […]

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Rural Energy for America Program

The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)—most recently reauthorized by the 2018 Farm Bill—provides loan guarantees and grants for rural small business and agricultural producers to purchase renewable energy systems, energy efficiency improvements, energy audits and feasibility studies. Renewable energy systems include wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass, hydrogen and ocean power. Even though REAP was […]

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Crop Insurance

Producers can purchase taxpayer-subsidized insurance through the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIP). Though called “insurance,” it does not operate like insurance that most Americans purchase. That is because the government typically pays 100 percent of the premiums for basic catastrophic coverage and subsidizes an average of 62 percent of farmer’s individual crop insurance premiums. In […]

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Foreign Market Development Program

The Foreign Market Development Program promotes export of agricultural products by funding activities including trade promotion, market research and technical assistance to actual or potential foreign purchasers of U.S. commodities. The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) enters into agreements with agricultural trade associations and commodity organizations to promote trade.

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