Written by Jonathan Eisenthal

By investing in expanding the uses of corn, Minnesota’s corn growers have made products more environmentally friendly by replacing fossil fuels with corn. The incentive program that will help launch these advanced renewables industries in Minnesota is the Bioincentive Program, put in place by the state Legislature in 2015.

Modeled on the very successful (now retired) Ethanol Producers’ Credit, the Bioincentive Program rewards commercial-scale production of advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals, and thermal energy production from biomass, like corn. Realizing its potential for the state’s corn farmers, the Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA) joined efforts at the Legislature to establish the program.

“Minnesota now has the best incentive program in the country,” said Brendan Jordan, who is vice president at Great Plains Institute, which led the charge to establish the program. “It is very targeted. It’s a production incentive. There is no upfront money from the state. It rewards success. You don’t get paid unless you produce.”

Jordan facilitates the Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota, which is the group of agriculture, forestry, business and environmental interests who lobbied successfully to establish the Bioincentive Program. MCGA has been a member of the Bioeconomy Coalition and has been a key to the success of its advocacy, according to Jordan.

The Bioincentive Program currently receives $1.5 million annually in funding, but more than $60 million could be made available in incentive payments if the number of projects that qualify were to expand and the Legislature were to appropriate the money. Only two projects currently receive incentive payments, but as many as eight to ten are in the pipeline, according to MCGA Senior Public Policy Director Amanda Bilek.

“The program is starting to take on some momentum, and with that, I think we will see a push to raise funding for the program in 2019,” Bilek said.

Corn is currently being used to produce butanol and acetone, which have many uses in the specialty chemical and cosmetic product industry. Cellulosic ethanol technology using corn fiber or corn residue has been poised to take off for several years and isobutanol made from corn could enter the jet fuel market in the future.

The positive impact for the state’s corn growers is substantial.

“The promise of this program is to create new uses for Minnesota feedstocks, for crops and forestry products to be used to create these new materials,” said Bob Patton, supervisor of the Energy and Environment Section at Minnesota Department of Agriculture. “The Bioincentive Program has the promise of helping rural communities—the agricultural sector, the forestry sector—it could also spur some new crops and new economic opportunities for Minnesota farmers.”

Moving forward, the BioEconomy Coalition of Minnesota is advocating for tweaks to the program that will grow its impact. A major goal is to lower the production thresholds to receive incentive payments so that it will work for a host of early stage companies waiting to come and set up shop in rural Minnesota. Agriculture Finance bills pending in the Minnesota Legislature include the Bioincentive Program tweaks.