USDA 2007 Farm Bill Proposals - US Department of Agriculture

EXPANSION OF BIOBASED PRODUCTS MARKETRecommendation In BriefReauthorize the Federal Procurement of Biobased Products program, revise provisions toimprove its effectiveness, and invest $18 million over 10 years to expand and improve theprogram.ProblemSection 9002 of the 2002 farm bill created the Federal Procurement of Biobased Productsprogram to encourage Federal government purchases of biobased products. However, severalprovisions of the authorizing legislation have hampered program implementation and are likelyto do so in the future. These provisions include the definition of a biobased product, thelimitations on the use of mandatory funding, the lack of funding for program administration, andthe lack of authority to designate intermediate production inputs (materials used to createbiobased products) for preferred procurement. To increase the Federal market penetration ofbiobased products, these concerns must be addressed. During USDA Farm Bill Forums, supportfor biobased products was frequently expressed by people like Suzy of Iowa who said,“…renewable energy and bioproducts are all important things to consider as we head into the21st Century.” Millie, of New Mexico, stated it simply when she said, “Renewable energy andbioproducts need to be priorities.”Recommended SolutionThe Administration recommends that the authority in Section 9002 be amended to define“biobased products” as a product determined by the Secretary to be a commercial or industrialproduct (other than food or feed) that is composed, in whole or in significant part, of biologicalproducts including renewable domestic agricultural materials (including plant, animal, andmarine materials) or forestry materials. This amends the current definition so that renewableagricultural materials are not limited to domestic sources, thus resolving trade restrictionconcerns with the current statutory language. The $1 million in annual mandatory fundingcurrently provided for testing should be continued and expanded to include environmental andperformance testing for the purposes of public information as well as for designation of items forprocurement. In addition, $800,000 in annual mandatory funding would enable USDA to provideassistance to other Federal agencies in implementing the procurement program as well as allowUSDA to audit and oversee biobased product manufacturers to ensure that their claims regardingtheir products are valid and that criteria are met for using the label authorized by the program.Finally, materials used to create biobased products, such as chemical building blocks, should beeligible for biobased product designation and labeling.BackgroundThe Federal Procurement of Biobased Products program helps develop the market for biobasedproducts by encouraging the purchase of these products by the Federal government. ThroughFederal government purchases, the commercial viability of these products could be establishedand government demand for biobased products increased, thus leading to wider publicacceptance, increased demand, and increased production of a greater variety of biobasedproducts.USDA 2007 Farm Bill Proposals Page 147 of 183