Wood Products Extension collaborated with Duke University’s Center for Sustainability and Commerce and NC State’s Supply Chain Resource Cooperative to produce, “An Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry: A Report to the Congress of the United States of America.” This technical report was prepared for the US Department of Agriculture BioPreferred® program and the Congress of the United States of America as mandated within the 2014 Farm Bill. The report was highlighted in a news release issued by USDA (http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2015/06/0175.xml&contentidonly=true).

Seven major overarching sectors that represent the US biobased products industry were analyzed: Agriculture and Forestry, Biorefining, Biobased Chemicals, Enzymes, Bioplastic Bottles and Packaging, Forest Products, and Textiles. The report focused specifically bioproducts, therefore the energy, livestock, food, feed, and pharmaceuticals sectors were excluded.

Briefly, 1.5 million jobs were directly associated with...click here to read more: http://research.cnr.ncsu.edu/blogs/wpe/