The US Dept of Agriculture currently pays BILLIONS out via the Crop Reduction Program (CRP). This program pays farmers with land that could be farmed, to not farm.
I am of the opinion, that a significant reduction of our foreign oil dependence along with an improvement in the cash flows for farms could be achieved if the USDA would require the production of X numbers of gallons of algae in order to qualify for Y number of acres in the CRP program.
Further, tax breaks could be provided to ag co-ops that build algae collection and process to oil facilities that could then be shipped via trains to refineries.
Growing algae can be done in tanks, in ponds, etc. Farmers might even be able to process the algae into bio-diesel for their own farm equipment thus reducing their costs. The algae can then be sold to the co-op, the co-op collect and process into oil and the oil sold to refineries. In essence, boot strapping a whole ag industry that would be a whole lot more efficient that trying to turn food (corn) into fuel (ethanol).
And there are plenty of areas in the desert southwest where land is plentiful and inexpensive and where the sun shines almost every day. A sealed system could trap and reuse the water to prevent evaporation while simultaneously avoiding the release of any stench from the algae ponds. And installing solar panels to assist in running the machinery can reduce the operating costs.
A little ingenuity could easily make this feasible. Personally, I’d also like to see some vertical axis wind turbines installed as a supplemental energy source for the operation. But no subsidies or grants. It would survive or fail on its own merits.