ENS) – A new $300 million program to encourage expanded production of environmentally friendly fuels made from corn, soybeans and other crops is under way.

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has announced details of the plan, proposed in President Bill Clinton's 2001 budget as part of the farm safety net. According to Glickman, the program will help expand markets for agricultural commodities and promote use of biofuels such as ethanol and soy based biodiesel.

"This program will help us tap into a huge domestic energy reserve -- our family farms," said Glickman. "Encouraging the use of bioenergy benefits America's farmers, while improving our energy security and helping to protect the environment."

Under the program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will make cash payments to bioenergy companies that increase their purchases of corn, soybeans and other commodities to expand production of ethanol, biodiesel or other biofuels. The program will provide higher payments to small and new to market processors, including cooperatives, to encourage the expansion of domestic bioenergy production capacity.

USDA will provide up to $150 million for the program this fiscal year and another $150 million in fiscal 2002. Sign up for the program will begin in December.

Glickman also announced that USDA is soliciting proposals for pilot projects that use harvested vegetation to produce energy. Biomass, plant materials containing cellulose and lignin, can be burned, converted into combustible gas or used to produce liquid fuels.

The land must be enrolled in USDA's Conservation Reserve Program and the vegetative cover, such as grass, must be an approved cover for use in the conservation program.

Pilot projects must stand for at least 10 years, with total acreage per project not to exceed 50,000 acres. For more information, visit http://www.fsa.usda.gov/daco/bioenergy/bioenergy.htm.

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