In an April 12th announcement, Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, noted three programs to assist the biofuels industry and indirectly row-crop farmers.  Programs include:-

• A $700 million allocation under the Pandemic Assistance for Producers Initiative.  This program will support agricultural producers that supply biofuels refiners.
• A grant of $100 million will be provided under the Biofuels Infrastructure Program to install multi-blend pumps to dispense higher grades of bioethanol and biodiesel.
• The Renewable Fuels Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program will receive $5.6 million.  This will expand infrastructure to make available renewable fuels with higher blends in seven states.  Funds will be used to replace and expand storage tanks and to install dispensers.

The USDA initiative was concurrent with the White House announcement permitting year-round sale of E-15 ethanol blend previously disallowed  during summer months in some states.  This will expand the market from 30 states with 2,300 stations.  Currently E-15 can be used for flex-fuel vehicles and newer model cars and trucks.

Breaking of the blend-ceiling by expanding availability of E-15 should generate greater demand for corn to the detriment of the livestock sector of agriculture.  Following the announcement, CME corn for May delivery rose 15 cents per bushel.  It remains to be seen whether E-15 will have any material long-term effect on demand. This will be more evident in the May and June WASDE reports and from weekly ethanol production and inventory data circulated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.