US Biobased Product Industry Generated $393B in 2014

A new report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that the biobased products industry in the United States generated $393 billion in 2014 and contributed 4.2 million jobs to the country’s economy, the agency announced at an event at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Monday. From 2013 to 2014, the industry added 220,000 jobs and increased revenues by $24 billion.

“When USDA released the first-ever Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry last year, we were thrilled to see what a positive impact this sector was having on our economy, and this updated analysis shows that the sector is not just holding strong, but growing,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in a statement. “America has an appetite for everyday products – including plastic bottles, textiles, cleaning supplies, and more – made from renewable sources, and that demand is fueling millions of jobs, bringing manufacturing back to our rural communities, and reducing our nation’s carbon footprint.”

According to the agency, the industry directly supported 1.53 million jobs in 2014, with each position indirectly producing 1.76 jobs in other related industries. One contributing factor in the rise of biobased products in the U.S. is an effort to shift production of consumer and other goods away from petroleum-based sources. Some companies are producing biobased alternatives to plastics, petroleum-based packaging like Styrofoam, and composites for automotive and aerospace applications.

“The increased use of biobased products currently displaces about 300 million gallons of petroleum per year – the equivalent to taking 200,000 cars off the road,” the USDA said.

The USDA’s BioPreferred program, created under the 2002 Farm Bill and reauthorized and expanded under the 2014 Farm Bill, is an online catalog of over 15,000 biobased products.

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