The USDA on March 14 released a report that outlines its vision to create a more resilient biomass supply chain. The agency also published an accompanying implementation framework identifying actions it will take in the next year to increase available cultivated biomass, invest in infrastructure involving biobased products, and support the responsible development of the biomass supply chain. 

The report, titled “Building a Resilient Biomass Supply Chain: A Plan to Enable the Bioeconomy in America,” is a key deliverable of President Biden’s Executive Order 14081, which was issued in 2022 and defined goals and priorities meant to catalyze government and private sector action on biotechnology and biomanufacturing. 

“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.”

The USDA’s plan describes current biomass use and availability and identifies current challenges and vulnerabilities to biomass supply chain systems. It also summarizes existing government polices and programs across supply chains that support the expansion of the economy and recommends additional actions in research, development, demonstration, policies and programs to build more resilient biomass supply chains. In addition, it includes recommendations for improving cooperation and collaboration on the bioeconomy across the federal government. 

Key conclusions of the report include: 

• U.S. biomass supplies are abundant and the country is well positioned to utilize and leverage those resources.
• There are gaps in knowledge of current and projected biomass feedstock availability, particularly in the areas of emergency feedstocks and uncertainties around market prices and policies. 
• There is much to learn about competing markets for biomass feedstock and incentivizing new market creation. 
• There is create potential to grow emerging lignocellulosic crops on marginal land, but farmers will not grow those crops unless established processing facilities and markets exist. Likewise, investments to harvest and collect woody biomass resources will not emerge without certainty about reliable markets. 
• Emerging oilseed crops can increase biomass availability and sustainability of commodity row crop production without increasing land use, as cover crops and through double-cropping. 
• Woody biomass can provide a large volume of needed biomass, but the economics of forest operation residuals, mill waste, forest health thinnings and wildfire fuel removal need to be better understood and made more cost-effective. 

The report outlines a variety of recommendations related to research, development and demonstration needs. This includes:

• Assessing, comparing and evaluating markets and availability of biomass crops, including an investor of wood biomass and other markets not covered in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2016 Billion-Ton Report.
• Researching more efficient ways to collect and aggregate waste lipids and expand the cultivation of oilseed crops. 
• Conducting long-term trials for emerging biomass crops; developing better methods for collecting, sorting and processing waste and residuals; and analyzing policies to encourage biomass production/collection.
• Researching improvements to biomass transportation, optimizing preprocessing at farms and depots, and enhancing the reliability of feedstock processing systems. 
• Improving genetics, optimizing climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices, developing alternative uses for coproducts of manufacturing, assigning values for environmental services, and performing lifecycle analyses of techno-economic assessments. 

It also describes suggested policies and programs for capacity building and market development, including: 

• Developing and diversifying markets for biomanufactured and biobased products
• Incentivizing biomass production via stable and substantive support for biomass production over the long-term 
• Reducing risk through crop insurance programs, the promotion of cooperatives, financial safety nets for value-chain capacity building, and the development of markets for coproducts
• Investing in infrastructure and the workforce
• Supporting workforce training and farm workers, agriculture and forestry extension programs, programs for beginning farmers, and public outreach about bioproducts
• Prioritizing investments in data collection/sharing, updates to NAICS/NACPS and other industry and trade databases, and in tracking for carbon accounting and biobased products. 

The implementation framework released by the USDA provides a roadmap of near-term actions that the USDA intends to take to implement the plan. Some of those actions include: 

• Developing agronomic best practices for new oilseed crops for biofuels
• Increasing supply of new latex crops for domestic natural rubber
• Addressing barriers limiting utilization of lignocellulosic crops
• Increasing utilization of food waste, manure, and farm residuals for biofuels and biobased products
• Reviewing conservation and crop insurance provisions to encourage greater use of harvestable cover crops
• Leveraging current authorities to enhance the sustainability and expand the production and collection of commodity-based feedstocks
• Leveraging non-federal funds for increased access to woody biomass through the Innovative Finance for National Forest grant program
• Supporting increased utilization of woody biomass for biobased production through the Wood Innovations Grant Program
• Investing in facilities and innovative equipment through the Community Wood Grant Program
• Incentivizing woody biomass utilization from high-priority landscapes through the Wood Products Infrastructure Assistance Program
• Invest in research and demonstration projects for value-added uses of small-diameter biomass and other low-value woody residues
• Providing technical assistance to support woody biomass utilization as feedstocks for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)
• Supporting expanded use of wood feedstocks for biorefinery demonstrations
• Supporting wood biomass product exports
• Leveraging USDA Rural Development programs, including the Rural Energy for America Program; The Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program; the Advanced Biofuel Payment Program; the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program; the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program; and the Rural Economic Development Loan Program
• Continuing to expand the BioPreferred Program
• Leveraging the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program
• Continuing research and analysis supporting market development of biobased products and biofuels
• Leveraging the Value-Added Producer Grants program
• Developing and expanding export markets for biofuels and biobased products
• Leveraging the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program
• Continuing to research policy analysis to support decreasing the carbon intensity of commodity crops
• Improving the analysis of carbon intensities (CI) for biofuels and biobased products
• Improving modeling and analysis of carbon-market value
• Increasing awareness of USDA fundings programs to support biomass and biobased production 
• Developing resources to guide ongoing investments in resilient biomass/biobased supply chains
• Supporting demonstration projects for biomass utilization in construction 
• Strengthening strategic partnerships with trade associations to assess workforce development needs

Additional information is available on the USDA website.