Biofuels, take two

Nature Biotechnology 26, 722 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nbt0708-722a

Emily Waltz

Introduction

The next-generation biofuels industry got a boost in May when Congress passed new laws under the 2008 Farm Bill that support the use of lignocellulosic feedstocks. The bill creates a tax credit of $1.01 per gallon of cellulosic ethanol, decreases the tax credit for corn-based ethanol by six cents to $0.45 and provides $320 million in loan guarantees for the construction of next-generation biofuels plants. It also increases to $120 million funding for R&D in feedstock development and biofuel production efficiency and provides payments to farmers near biorefineries to help them transition to energy crops. Key are the bill's incentives for farmers to commit to growing energy crops before biorefineries are built. "It's difficult to put up a biorefinery until you have an assured supply of biomass. But it's difficult for growers to want to plant large acreage of dedicated energy crops until they're assured a market in the form of a biorefinery," says Anna Rath, vice president of commercial development at Ceres, in Thousand Oaks, California. "So from our perspective, the [farm bill] takes care of that chicken-and-egg problem." President George Bush vetoed the bill May 21, saying it would subsidize wealthy farmers, including married couples making up to $1.5 million per year, and allow crops to be subsidized at any price. Congress the next day overrode the veto, enacting 14 of the bill's 15 titles. The bill, as of press time is expected to be passed into law.