TAGS: Sustainability / Natural Cosmetics
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a plan that will boost biomass supply chain resiliency for domestic biobased product manufacturing. It will also advance environmental sustainability and market opportunities for small and mid-sized producers.
Biobased Products Contributed $489 Bn to the U.S. Economy in 2021
The report is titled "Building a Resilient Biomass Supply: A Plan to Enable the Bioeconomy in America." It is one of USDA's key deliverables under president Biden's Executive Order 14081. This executive order was issued in 2022. It defined bold goals and new priorities that are meant to catalyze action inside and outside of government. The goal is to advance America's domestic bioeconomy.
Biomass is organic material. It comes from crop residues, agricultural and food wastes, forest residuals, and livestock. It also comes from biomass crops grown specifically as feedstocks to produce biobased products. Once harvested or collected, biomass can be used to produce a variety of products. These include sustainable fuel, fibers, electricity, construction materials, plastics, insulation, personal care items, and many other biobased products. According to a recent report by USDA's BioPreferred Program, biobased products contributed $489 billion to the U.S. economy in 2021. This is a more than 5% increase from $464 billion in 2020.
Driven by this clear and growing consumer demand for biobased products, USDA's plan supports a resilient and responsibly sourced biomass supply chain. This plan furthers the Department's commitment to developing a circular bioeconomy. In a circular bioeconomy, agricultural resources are harvested, consumed and reused in a sustainable manner. Adopting circular economies ensures certain outcomes. These include creating wealth and other economic benefits in the form of jobs and opportunities in rural communities. It also helps mitigate the effects of climate change and nature loss.
The plan finds that U.S. biomass supplies are abundant. This puts the U.S. in a good position to convert biomass into biobased products. However, improvements to biomass supply chain logistics and materials handling technology are needed. Farmers also need incentives to produce biomass while reducing risk. The plan's recommendations include researching and deploying improved biomass crops, taking advantage of woody biomass residuals, and helping develop markets for biobased products through USDA's BioPreferred Program.
Helps Move Toward Strategic Climate Change Goals
This plan is a clear example of how working on one goal can help move the needle on others. Advancing U.S. bioeconomy goals moves us toward USDA's strategic goals of addressing climate change, conserving nature, promoting racial justice and rural prosperity, creating better market opportunities, and improving food security.
Released with the plan is an implementation framework that identifies actions USDA will take over the next year to increase available cultivated biomass, invest in biobased product infrastructure, and support responsible development.
USDA also released a fact sheet outlining the Department’s 2023 bioeconomy accomplishments, which include $772 million in investments for research, development, and infrastructure involving biofuels, fertilizer production, crop innovations, biobased products and more.
“The increasing demand for biomass is a golden opportunity to expand markets and create new revenue for American farmers, ranchers and forest landowners, particularly in rural areas,” said Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack at the Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Council meeting in Washington, DC.
“We are proud to support President Biden’s commitment to advance America’s domestic bioeconomy and ultimately create new markets and jobs. This comprehensive roadmap will strengthen our production and preprocessing systems to provide incentives for producers and manufacturers, so that biomass can be used to fuel the American bioeconomy.”
“Strengthening research and development, capacity building, and biomass market development will help bolster existing markets and catalyze new markets,” said Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, USDA chief scientist and under secretary for Research, Education and Economics.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America's food system. It has a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities. USDA is building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices. It is making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America. USDA is committed to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America.
Source: USDA
