The Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 provides $20 million in discretionary funding for each year FY 2019-23 for the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). That’s down from $50 million in mandatory funding and $20 million in discretionary funding each year in FY 2014-18).

REAP was intended to spur development of rural renewable energy systems, such as those for wind, solar, and hydropower. However, the program also supports the corn ethanol industry through energy efficiency subsidies and historically also subsidized ethanol blender pumps, special fueling infrastructure for higher blends of ethanol (such as E15 or E85). Over 80 percent of grant and loan checks from November 2010 to October 2016 were written for solar, energy efficiency, and energy audit projects but $5.7 million was also spent on the corn ethanol industry.