It was June 15, 2021 when Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced additional aid to agricultural producers and businesses as part of the USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative, which included $700 billion for biofuels producers, for losses incurred in 2020.
Not quite an entire year later, USDA finally made good on that promise today, providing more than $486 million for 62 producers located in “socially vulnerable communities” with a total of more than 100 biofuel producers and 195 facilities.
USDA is making payments to 195 biofuel production facilities to support the maintenance and viability of a significant market for agricultural producers of products such as corn, soybean or biomass that supply biofuel production. These biofuel producers experienced unexpected market losses on a combined 3.7 billion gallons as a result of COVID–19.
For example:
In Iowa, Southwest Renewable Energy LLC is receiving a payment of $3 million. It suffered a market loss on 14.3 million gallons of ethanol due to the pandemic.
In Illinois, Adkins Energy is receiving a $774,000 payment. Its biomass-based diesel production suffered a market loss on almost 3.5 million gallons due to the pandemic.
In Texas, White Energy Holding Company is receiving a $21 million payment for production at two facilities. Its ethanol production suffered a market loss on 98 million gallons due to the pandemic.
The investments USDA is making today will support biofuel producers in California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.