The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-246,
2008 Farm Bill) created the Biomass Crop Assistance Program
(BCAP). The two main purposes of BCAP are: (1) to support the
establishment and production of eligible crops for conversion to
bioenergy in selected areas: and (2) to assist agricultural and
forest land owners and operators with collection, harvest,
storage, and transportation of eligible material for use in a
biomass conversion facility. BCAP is intended to assist with the
bioenergy industry’s hurdle of continuous biomass availability.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency
(FSA) implemented one portion of BCAP—the Collection, Harvest,
Storage, and Transportation (CHST) matching payment program—on
June 11, 2009, through a Notice of Funds Availability in the
Federal Register. The partial implementation created a possible
unintended consequence of market competition for wood shavings,
wood chips, sawdust, and other wood “scraps” between traditional
purchasers—namely