An exciting new report was released earlier this month entitled, “An Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry: 2016 Update”. This fascinating report from the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows how the U.S. biobased industry continues to grow and generate substantial economic activity and jobs in the United States.
Report Origins
This report was prepared for the USDA BioPreferred® Program as a follow-up to the 2015 report to the Congress of the United States mandated in the 2014 Farm Bill. The conclusions and recommendations in this report are those of the authors, and have not been endorsed by USDA. The report provides information on the contributions of the biobased products industry in the United States.
Biobased Products Help Build a Strong Economy & Job Market
The biobased products industry contributed $393 billion to the U.S. economy, up $24 billion from the most recent year measured. The biobased products industry supports over 4 million American jobs and directly supported 1.53 million jobs in 2014 and through spillover effects, supported 4.22 million total jobs in the U.S. For every biobased product industry employee in the U.S., nearly two other jobs are supported in other sectors of our economy.
Biobased Products are Replacing Petroleum-based Products
There are many factors shaping the biobased products industry and although it has been a challenging environment for the industry, there are also many encouraging signs that suggest that it is poised to grow in the next decade. There has been volatility in oil and natural gas prices over the past 16 years, and when oil prices are high we expect the demand to increase for biobased chemicals to be used as replacements for petroleum as a less expensive alternative. The cyclical nature of oil prices suggests that prices have reached a low but it will increase again. If we take a long-term view of this technology, including government incentives, as oil prices increase, large companies are becoming increasingly focused on making more investments in biobased chemicals. These expected oil price increases will have a positive impact on the biobased products industry.
Arborjet’s Biobased Connection
Replacing petroleum-based products with biobased products has the potential to reduce GHG emissions up to 10 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents. Arborjet proudly offers NutriRoot™ as part of the continued development and growth of the biobased industry.
Do you have any questions about Arborjet’s biobased products? Contact us anytime! Would you like to read a full copy of the report? Downloaded it here.