WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making good on President Donald Trump’s executive order to ramp up American energy production.

In a move that is more "grow, baby, grow" than "drill, baby, drill," Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Monday the department will provide $537 million to fund 543 biofuel projects in 29 states.

What You Need To Know

  • On Monday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the USDA will provide $537 million to fund 543 biofuel projects in 29 states

  • She said investments in homegrown biofuels derived from corn and soybeans, such as ethanol and biodiesel, will diversify the country’s energy supply, create jobs and improve national security by making the U.S. less susceptible to retaliatory trade practices

  • On Wednesday, Trump plans to enact reciprocal tariffs on all of the country’s global trading partners — a move that is likely to reduce U.S. farmers’ exports as countries forego American agricultural products

  • Biofuels such as E15 and E85 which blend gasoline and ethanol can be used to power flexible fuel vehicles

“President Trump is honoring our commitment to America’s farmers, ranchers and small businesses,” Rollins said in a statement following an event at an ethanol plant in Iowa.

She said investments in homegrown corn-derived ethanol and soybean-derived biodiesel will diversify the country’s energy supply, create jobs and improve national security by making the U.S. less susceptible to retaliatory trade practices. 

On Wednesday, Trump plans to enact reciprocal tariffs on all of the country’s global trading partners — a move that is likely to reduce U.S. farmers’ exports as countries forego American agricultural products.

Last week, Rollins told reporters outside the White House that she is working with the president “to have some programs in place that would potentially mitigate any economic catastrophes that could happen to some of our famers if in fact [tariffs] move forward and some of our farmers are significantly hurt.”

During Trump’s first term, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spent billions of dollars subsidizing farmers after he imposed a 25% tariff on various goods from China, which retaliated by bringing in fewer U.S. farm imports. 

Distributed through the agency’s Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program that Trump established during his first term in office, the goal of the $537 million funding package is to increase the sale and use of higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel by expanding the infrastructure for agriculturally derived fuels. The funds will be used to install biofuel pumps and storage containers to make the fuels more readily accessible to consumers.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the vehicular use of a fuel blend known as E15 made from 85% gasoline and 15% ethanol in 2011. While E15 can be used to power so-called flexible fuel vehicles and gas-powered cars and light trucks for the 2001 model year or later, it is not allowed as a fuel for motorcycles, heavy-duty vehicles including school buses and delivery trucks or off-road equipment such as lawn mowers. 

Flex fuel vehicles can run on an even higher ethanol blend gasoline known as E85, which may contain as much as 83% ethanol. Higher ethanol content lowers fuel economy, according to the EPA.