Agriculture as a Source of Fuel: Prospects and Impacts, 2007 to 2017 (PDF; 61 KB)
Source: Conference on Biofuels, Food & Feed Tradeoffs; Sponsored by Farm Foundation, USDA’s Office of Energy Policy and New Uses

For most of the period since 1978 when the first federal legislation to encourage ethanol production was enacted, U.S. agriculture served in a relatively minor role as a source of renewable fuels. Starting with the federal Clean Air Act of 1990 which mandated oxygenated gasoline in certain cities to improve air quality, ethanol and its petroleum alternative, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), provided the needed additive until MTBE came into disfavor for contaminating groundwater. In the past five years, ethanol production has nearly tripled, and biodiesel production has increased ten fold although at a much lower level than ethanol. As a result, this growth has recently elevated the prices of the major feedstocks of corn and soybean oil. Federal and state policies have encouraged this acceleration, prompted by a combination of (1) sharply rising energy prices, (2) increased dependence on supplies of crude oil from nations hostile to the U.S. or with unstable political structures, (3) growing environmental concerns including global warming, (4) issues related to balance of payments, (5) depressed farm prices and high farm program costs and (6) ongoing efforts to promote rural development.

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