Upcoming Events: USDA Farm to Fleet Industry Day and DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office

Farm to Fleet
On January 30, the USDA will host an industry day for the newly established Farm to Fleet program. Under the Navy Biofuels program established through the Defense Production Act Title III, the USDA is required to support one-third of the total $510 million program. Through the Farm to Fleet program, the USDA will commit Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds to purchase 70 million gallons of JP-5 or F-76 fuel for the Navy from biofuel blends ranging up to 50 percent. If biofuels meeting these specifications have a higher cost than the bulk fuel purchase made by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), CCC funds will be used to offset this price difference and result in an overall price-equivalent biofuel portion of the total 700 million gallons of JP-5 and F-76 to be purchased in this round of contracts.

The Industry Day will include discussions on which feedstocks are eligible or preferred, as well as partnerships between experienced biofuel developers who have worked with the Navy, Air Force, or DLA and traditional suppliers of bulk fuel contracts. Sample contracts may become available as soon as this month.

The meeting will be held on: Thursday, January 30, 2014, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and will be held at USDA Jefferson Auditorium, USDA South Building, 14th and Independence, Washington, DC 20250.

Bioenergy Technologies Office Planning Workshops
With the passage of the Omnibus appropriations bill and budget certainty for many agencies moving forward into 2014, the DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) expects to hold a series of workshops for its various subprograms:

• Demonstration and Deployment
• Feedstock Production
• Algae and Advanced Feedstocks
• Conversion Technologies

Of note is that each of these subprograms expects to fund at least one solicitation for FY2014, ranging from the BETO incubator program for new prototypes for small businesses in Conversion Technologies through fully integrated biorefinery demonstrations in Demonstration and Deployment. These workshops will be an opportunity for industry, academia, and the DOE program managers to discuss the current state of technologies in these areas, and how industry and academia can help each program meet their aggressive cost and performance targets for developing cost-competitive biofuels and bioproducts.

More information to come as schedules are finalized, but workshops are expected in the March timeframe.