USDA targets 30% biofuels by 2050

In Washington, D.C., U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the Agriculture Innovation Agenda, specifically, focusing on stimulating innovation so that American agriculture can achieve the goal of increasing production by 40% while cutting the environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half by 2050. Part of this plan is to achieve market-driven blend rates of 15% of transportation fuels in 2030 and 30% of transportation fuels by 2050.

How do they plan to do this? Can 30% of all U.S. fuels really be biofuels by 2050? How is this new Agriculture Innovation Agenda planning on getting us there?

Some slides in Secretary Perdue’s announcement via a Prezi Presentation the Agriculture Innovation Agenda give us some clues as to how they plan on doing this.

First, a look back at the past 70 years shows that U.S. agricultural output has almost tripled while inputs have only increased by a tenth of a percent annually. Pretty impressive, but how did that happen? Through technological innovations of course! According to his presentation – things like satellites used for precision ag, big data applications, weed and pest resistant biotech, and more.

So by looking back at recent years and the technological advances in agriculture, we can start to understand USDA’s plan for reaching those goals like 30% biofuels by 2050.

Unlike Mayor Bloomberg who just recently said anyone can learn to farm and it’s as easy as digging a hole, planting a seed in it, putting dirt on top and watering it, it looks like Secretary Purdue and the USDA realize the only way to keep feeding and providing energy for more people while lowering environmental impact and GHG emissions is to evolve, to use technology to our advantage, to innovate new and better ways of planting those seeds, watering that field.

Secretary Purdue’s presentation noted 4 key research focus areas:

1. Genome design
2. Digital and Automation
3. Prescriptive intervention
4. Systems based farm management

Sounds a lot more complicated and advanced than digging a hole, and the ag and biofuels industry certainly have plenty of farmers, producers, and supporters with lots of gray matter that are already tackling today’s challenges to improve our future.

So how will we get to the USDA’s lofty goals?

Secretary Purdue’s presentation focused on 4 ways to get us there:

1. RESEARCH – The first component of the Ag Innovation Agenda is to develop a U.S. ag-innovation strategy that aligns and synchronizes public and private sector research.

“Bold and transformative innovation is needed to meet future demands. We will seek input from the agricultural community on what innovative technologies and practices are needed to meet these demands. We will use that input to seek alignment between the research goals of the scientific and innovation communities with the demand for tangible and relevant outcomes.”

2. PROGRAMS – The second component is to align the work of our customer-facing agencies and integrate innovative technologies and practices into USDA programs and get cutting-edge tech into the hands of farmers everywhere.

“There have been dramatic advances in efficiency and conservation performance over the past two decades. USDA can assist farmers in accessing and adopting new technologies and practices to help producers meet productivity and environmental goals. To accomplish this, the Department will focus on USDA program delivery to encourage rapid adoption of cutting-edge technologies and practices. USDA will also champion commercialization of innovative technologies in the private sector.”

3. DATA – The third component is to conduct a review of USDA productivity and conservation data and see where gaps need to be filled. USDA already closely tracks data on yield, but on the environmental side, there’s some catching up to do.

“USDA currently collects a wealth of data on commodity production, but information on how our food is produced and the conservation practices being employed is harder to come by. USDA intends to increase our understanding of the adoption of conservation practices and improve the timeliness and access to conservation information, delivering a powerful new tool to measure and track progress. Through improved reporting and access to conservation data, USDA and the public will be able to understand and monitor conservation and productivity trends and progress. Access to this information will also serve as a catalyst for innovation and improved conservation decision-making.”

4. BENCHMARKS – Finally, USDA has set benchmarks, or a sort of scoreboard, to hold themselves accountable. These targets will help measure progress toward meeting the food, fiber, fuel, feed, and climate demands of the future. Some of the benchmarks include:

• • Food loss and waste:Advance work toward the United States’ goal to reduce food loss and waste by 50 percent in the United States by the year 2030.
  • Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas:Enhance carbon sequestration through soil health and forestry, leverage the agricultural sector’s renewable energy benefits for the economy, and capitalize on innovative technologies and practices to achieve net reduction of the agricultural sector’s current carbon footprint by 2050 without regulatory overreach.
  • Water Quality:Reduce nutrient loss by 30 percent nationally by 2050.
  • Renewable Energy:Increase the production of renewable energy feedstocks and set a goal to increase biofuel production efficiency and competitiveness to achieve market-driven blend rates of 15% of transportation fuels in 2030 and 30% of transportation fuels by 2050.

The one we are most interested in is the renewable energy piece of the pie – the support of renewable fuels, including ethanol, biodiesel, and biomass. The USDA plans to “increase biofuel feedstock production and biofuel production efficiency and competitiveness to achieve market-driven blend rates of E15 in 2030 and E30 in 2050.”

But it isn’t just ethanol. USDA says it plans to “Achieve market-driven demand for biomass and biodiesel,” though no details or numbers were given on that one.

Of particular interest to The Digest readers may also be the Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas component. USDA plans to “enhance carbon sequestration through soil health and forestry, leverage the agricultural sector’s renewable energy benefits for the economy, and capitalize on innovative technologies and practices to achieve a net reduction of the agricultural sector’s current carbon footprint by 2050 without regulatory overreach.”

“Multiple pathways exist to achieve this goal, including promoting innovation and new technologies and practices to improve fertilizer and manure management, capturing biogas, improving livestock production efficiency, conserving sensitive and marginal lands to enhance carbon sinks, reforestation and responsible forest management to prevent wildfire, maximizing the benefits of renewable energy through improved efficiency and carbon capture, and encouraging soil health practices such as no-till to sequester carbon.

Here’s what Perdue had to say:

When referring to the biofuels goal of 30% by 2050, according to Reuters, Secretary Perdue said at the news conference, “I think, really, that’s maybe one of the easiest to achieve, with going from E10 to E15 … that’s a 50% increase.”

“We know we have a challenge facing us: to meet future food, fiber, fuel, and feed demands with finite resources. USDA’s Agriculture Innovation Agenda is our opportunity define American agriculture’s role to feed everyone and do right as a key player in the solution to this challenge,” said Secretary Perdue.

“This agenda is a strategic, department-wide effort to better align USDA’s resources, programs, and research to provide farmers with the tools they need to be successful. We are also continually mindful of the need for America’s agriculture industry to be environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable to maintain our position as a leader in the global effort to meet demand. We are committed as ever to the environmental sustainability and continued success, of America’s farmers, ranchers, foresters, and producers.”

Bottom Line

30% biofuels by 2050 is huge. And while much of the talk and specific numbers so far have been focused on ethanol to reach this goal, let’s not loose sight of all the other biofuels available right now like biodiesel, waste to fuels (like MSW, methane, CO2, etc.), algae, and more. They are all a way of achieving a higher biofuel blend and higher biofuel percentage of U.S. fuels.

After all, the goal is to have home-grown, proud to be made in the USA renewable fuels that meet our demands while lowering GHG emissions and environmental impact. And it ain’t as simple as digging a hole and putting a seed in it, like some might think. And with USDA’s plan to “continue working to modernize our regulatory framework so America’s producers will have the benefit of modern technologies, such as biotechnology, necessary to meet these challenges,” we will get there. That’s why this USDA Agriculture Innovation Agenda is encouraging and could really help push biofuels forward.

Read more about the Agriculture Innovation Agenda here. Watch Secretary Purdue’s video about the program here.