USDA BioPreferred label

"USDA and the Obama administration are working with private industry to pursue an 'all of the above' energy strategy," agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack says. "These proposed guidelines are another example of the way the BioPreferred program is being tailored to supplement production of products from new farm-based sources, supporting economic expansion and creating jobs from the farm to the finished product. Today, the development of both biofuels and bioproducts, using not just corn, but corn stover, soybeans, switchgrass, wood, camelina, energy cane, municipal solid waste, yellow oils, algae and a host of other non-food feedstocks growing across the country, are reducing our reliance on foreign oil."

The new regulation also allows for the designation of complex assemblies that contain one or more components made from biobased ingredients. These provisions are necessary because such finished products cannot be tested for biobased content using the procedures spelled out in the existing guidelines.

USDA is also proposing to revise some of the definitions and terminology used in the existing guidelines to clarify the operating procedures. Vilsack says these actions will incorporate statutory changes to the 2008 Farm Bill and will make improvements to the existing guidelines based on 10 years of operating experience.

Vilsack also notes USDA has just celebrated the anniversary of one year of voluntary USDA biobased product certification and labeling. As of March, 2012, USDA has certified more than 670 biobased products from more than 200 companies. Biobased industries have submitted more than 1,100 applications to USDA. Vilsack points out those USDA Certified Biobased Products are available to consumers and are now appearing on the shelves of supermarkets and other businesses across the country.

This Federal Register publication comes just days after the April 26 White House bioeconomy announcement to lay out a strategy to increase the use of agricultural products to improve rural economies and decrease dependence on oil imports. The proposed regulation can be read at www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/05/01/2012-10420/guidelines-for-designating-biobased-products-for-federal-procurement.

Creating new markets for the nation's agricultural products through biobased manufacturing is one of the many steps the Administration has taken over the past three years to strengthen the rural economy. Since August 2011, the White House Rural Council has supported a spectrum of rural initiatives including a Presidential Memorandum to create jobs in rural America through biobased and sustainable product procurement, a $350 million commitment in SBA funding to rural small businesses over the next 5 years, launching a series of conferences to connect investors with rural start-ups, creating capital marketing teams to pitch federal funding opportunities to private investors interested in making rural and making job search information available at 2,800 local USDA offices nationwide.

Source: USDA

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