The COVID-19 pandemic hit the American economy hard. We are still feeling the ripple effects of it almost two years later. Of course, some sectors of the economy took it harder than others. Many of those were reliant on travel and human interaction. When you have lockdowns and people working from home, you do not have anyone helping those businesses prosper.
Fuel producers took a large hit during the peak of the pandemic response. In Ankeny, there was one day I only paid 74 cents for a gallon of gas. That was the cheapest I have ever paid in my driving lifetime. When you have no demand, you must practically give away your product. That didn?t bode well for biofuels either. Ethanol was particularly hard hit with the loss of fuel demand. In 2020, many attempts were made to get support for the biofuels industry, but it just always seemed to get left along the wayside, while other industries received their help.
Audio: Complete interview with Iowa State Director of USDA-RD Theresa Greenfield.
The CARES Act did include some options to help the biofuels industry through the establishment of the Biofuels Producer Program. This gave the USDA discretion to find a way to help the industry recover from the pandemic. It has been a long road for biofuels producers. Sometimes impatience and frustration set in, but ultimately the USDA has announced $800 million in funds to help the biofuels industry.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the plan earlier this week. I had the chance to talk with USDA Rural Development Iowa State Director Theresa Greenfield to get more information on the plan. The plan includes $700 million from the CARES Act and an additional $100 million for infrastructure upgrades.
Greenfield added that having the best biofuels products doesn?t mean much without the infrastructure to distribute them to the consumer. That is why it is important to use this $100 million to get the ball rolling on what will be a large undertaking to upgrade the infrastructure.
To apply for part of the $100 million dollars in infrastructure grants, Greenfield encourages businesses to keep an eye on the USDA Rural Development website to see more information as it becomes available. She would like to see as many Iowa facilities as possible get help.
Greenfield says that the Rural Development office, with its satellite locations around the state, is committed to the rural communities and businesses of Iowa.
