Strengthening the U.S. Bioeconomy

The USDA released a plan to boost biomass supply chain resiliency for domestic biobased product manufacturing. The plan will also advance environmental sustainability and market opportunities for small and mid-sized producers. The plan is called “Building a Resilient Biomass Supply.” “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,” says Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This comprehensive roadmap will strengthen our production and pre-processing systems to provide incentives for producers and manufacturers so that biomass can be used to fuel the American economy.” Biomass is organic material that comes from crop residues, agricultural and food wastes, forest residuals, livestock, as well as biomass crops that are grown specifically as feedstocks to produce biobased products. Biobased products contributed $489 billion to the U.S. economy in 2021, a more than five percent increase from 2020.