The American Soybean Association (ASA) submitted comments today to the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management for the record of the Public Hearing to review implementation of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. ASA supported enactment of this important legislation last year, and is interested in how the new programs and changes in existing programs would be developed.

ASA brought to the Subcommittee’s attention implementation of the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels, included in Section 9005 in the Energy Title of the Farm Bill. ASA played a lead role in asking Congress to extend the Bioenergy Program that had been initiated under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, and ASA worked hard to see it authorized and funded.

"The Bioenergy Program affects the viability of soybean farmers, as well as the biodiesel industry, and we want to bring it to the attention of the Agriculture Committee and the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management as well," said ASA President Johnny Dodson, a soybean producer from Halls, Tenn.

The Rural Business-Cooperative Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a Notice of Contract Proposal (NOCP) in the Federal Register on June 12, 2009, announcing plans to implement the Bioenergy Program for Fiscal Year 2009. ASA is pleased that the Department has moved forward to put the Program in place this year, and is pleased with the overall nature of the Program. However, ASA has concerns with several provisions of the NOCP.

ASA is concerned with the manner in which USDA would determine Base Production of new biorefineries for 2009 and the differential payments for base and incremental production in future years.

"ASA supports making equal payments on actual production," Dodson said. "These criteria should apply to the actual production of new and old plants alike. Differentiating between older and newer plants using actual production versus nameplate capacity could seriously undercut the competitiveness of the older facilities and provide a windfall to the newer ones. ASA urges the Department to reconsider this provision and revise the NOCP accordingly."

ASA is also concerned with the misstatement in the USDA’s NOCP that "Congress appropriated mandatory funding to this program as follows: $30 million for FY 2009." The 2008 Farm Bill provides mandatory funding for the Bioenergy Program of $55 million in FY2009.

"ASA is disturbed that the Department chose to misrepresent the decision by Congress to provide mandatory funding for the Bioenergy Program as an appropriation," Dodson said. "We are concerned by the decision to withhold $25 million of this mandatory funding. Unless these decisions can be reversed, we ask the Committee to obtain written assurances from the Department that the additional $25 million provided in the Farm Bill for FY2009 will be added to the $55 million provided for FY2010, and that the full amount of $80 million will be used under the Bioenergy Program in the coming fiscal year."

ASA asked the Committee to conduct active oversight of the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels to ensure that it is administered in a manner that is equitable for all producers and consistent with the intent of Congress, including using the full mandatory funding amounts provided in the 2008 Farm Bill.

Access ASA’s entire statement.