USDA Extends Digester Loan Pause Through End of Year
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- USDA extended the pause on new loans for anaerobic digesters through the end of the year, citing high delinquency rates and realized losses in existing projects.
- USDA data shows 11 % of the 746 digester lenders are over 90 days delinquent, prompting concerns about program stability.
- Legacy Biogas received a $5 million federal loan in 2018 for a digester at White Oaks Farm, which later suffered a cover breach, discharged 10,000 gallons of waste, and went into foreclosure.
- American Biogas Council argues the pause stems from federal staffing cuts rather than loan performance and calls the slowdown “surprising.”
- Environmental groups such as Farm Forward and Food & Water Watch contend digesters expand CAFOs, leak pollutants like ammonia, and often yield little revenue from captured gas, despite being marketed as climate solutions.
- California operates over 160 digesters on dairy farms, a state that credits them with reducing methane emissions but faces community complaints about leaks and water contamination.
Why it matters: Farmers and lenders lose access to federal financing for new digester projects, while the USDA aims to protect taxpayer dollars; environmental advocates gain a foothold in challenging the expansion of CAFOs, and the industry faces uncertainty over future subsidies and climate‑reduction timelines.
