What Does the Farm Bill Have to do With America’s Energy Security?

The Farm Bill now under consideration in Congress will have a direct impact on America's energy security. Unfortunately, that impact is likely to be negative if the House doesn't reconsider its current position before the looming deadline of September 30, when the current Farm Bill expires.

What does the farm bill have to do with America's energy security? In addition to promoting rural energy efficiency, the bill's energy title includes several investments in bioenergy, which, when produced from America’s working farms and forests, is a domestic, sustainable and cleaner alternative to petroleum-based energy. Investing in bioenergy will reduce America's dangerous dependence on oil, support the emergence of a new industry that can create thousands of jobs in struggling rural areas, and help combat climate change. It's a clear win-win situation.

The Farm Bill's energy title approved by the Senate provides mandatory funding for these energy programs, but the House version, approved by its Agriculture Committee, does not. In today's budgetary context, this is, in effect, a death sentence.

Until now, there had been strong bipartisan support for action to reduce U.S. oil dependence. In 2006, President George W. Bush declared that “America is addicted to oil” and announced accelerated initiatives to develop "cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but from wood chips, stalks, or switch grass." Bipartisan majorities in Congress supported accelerating development of biofuels and bioenergy with the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2007 and the Farm Bill energy title in 2008.

The United States has made some good headway since 2006, but much more progress is needed—and possible. In 2011, oil provided 36 percent of total U.S. primary energy consumption, and 93 percent of the fuel used by the transportation system. For the U.S. transportation sector to still be so dependent on one fuel creates a huge vulnerability.

This dependence comes at a high price. Since 2010, prices have spiked from below $70 per barrel in May 2010 to over $128 in March 2012. In 2008, prices spiked even higher. Every dollar increase in the global price per barrel places a drag on U.S. economic growth and reduces employment. It also increases the trade deficit. In 2011, the United States spent more than $331 billion on petroleum imports, up more than 31 percent over 2010. Prices have eased since March, but the long-term trend is assuredly upward as global demand out-paces new discoveries, as new petroleum becomes increasingly expensive to produce, and as tensions remain high in the Persian Gulf and other oil-producing regions.

Renewable, domestically-produced biofuels, biomass heating, and bio-based chemicals and products can help American consumers and businesses avoid future run-away costs for petroleum-based fuels and feedstocks. Domestic bioenergy industries will recycle hard-earned energy dollars here at home, stimulating more investment and job creation, while reducing the nation’s unsustainable trade deficit. The supply chains for these new industries can help put America back to work producing renewable biomass, building biorefineries and infrastructure, reducing energy costs for rural producers and businesses, and sustaining U.S. global leadership in clean, sustainable, renewable energy technologies.

The 2012 Farm Bill energy title can help accelerate this transition over the next five years—if sufficient mandatory funding is assured. The 2008 Farm Bill, with about $1 billion in mandatory funding for bioenergy and other renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, made a good start in the right direction. But it was only a start. A continued commitment in the 2012 Farm Bill is needed.

Biomass feedstock production systems still need to be developed and established on the ground. Each region of the country has unique biomass resource capacities waiting to be developed. Incentives are still needed to encourage the first pioneer producers to invest in developing these resources, production systems, and equipment. The Biomass Research and Development and the Biomass Crop Assistance Programs are designed to help make this happen.

The first dozen commercial-scale advanced biorefineries still need financing to help get off the ground. These biorefineries will demonstrate the viability of these complex new feedstock production systems and energy conversion technologies to future private investors. The Biorefinery Assistance Program and the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels are key to their success.

Rural schools, communities, farms, and businesses that today depend on expensive oil, propane, or electricity, need assistance to improve energy efficiency and to shift to less expensive, locally-produced, bioenergy and other forms of renewable energy. The Rural Energy for America Program and the Community Wood Energy Programs can help them switch their systems to local renewable energy.

The 2008 Farm Bill energy programs were designed to help address these issues, and they are just beginning to make a difference. A relatively small public investment (less than $2 billion over five years) has gone a long way, and it has been multiplied many-fold by other matching public and private investments.

Congress should not pull the plug on these promising programs now as they are just beginning to make a difference. A strong bipartisan majority in the Senate has shown the way with the Senate bill. The House should follow their lead.