Late last week, Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary Doug O’Brien announced that USDA is making nearly $60 million in payments to 195 producers to support the production of advanced biofuel. Eleven of the payments were seven figures, meaning more than $1 million, and all but one of those seven-figure payments are going to biodiesel production—emphasizing once again that biodiesel is the leading advanced biofuel in the U.S. The total dollar figure of the 10 seven-figure payments equals roughly $40 million of the $60 million paid out.

The highest biodiesel payment awards are as follows:

-Deerfield Energy LLC in Missouri is receiving more than $5.8 million

-RBF Port Neches LLC in Texas is receiving more than $5.6 million

-Mid-America Biofuels LLC in Missouri is receiving nearly $5.4 million

-High Plains Bioenergy LLC in Oklahoma is receiving nearly $4.2 million

-Paseo Cargill Energy LLC in Missouri is receiving more than $4.1 million

-Ag Processing Inc. in Nebraska is receiving more than $3.8 million

-Louis Dreyfus Agricultural Industries in Indiana is receiving more than $3.7 million

-Lake Erie Biofuels LLC in Pennsylvania is receiving more than $2.7 million

-Crimson Renewable Energy LP in California is receiving more than $2.6 million

-American Biodiesel Inc. (aka Community Fuels) is receiving more than $1.5 million

For the complete list of funding, click here. 

The funding is being provided through the Advanced Biofuel Payment Program, which was established in the 2008 Farm Bill and reauthorized in the recently signed 2014 Farm Bill. Under this program, payments are made to eligible producers based on the amount of advanced biofuels produced from renewable biomass other than corn kernel starch. Examples of eligible feedstocks include but are not limited to crop residue; animal, food and yard waste; vegetable oil; and animal fat.