News

First National Biobased Products Day held

March 8^th is now National Biobased Products Day, and a USDA official says Wednesday’s first-ever event was to bring awareness to products that help expand ag markets and promote better living.

USDA Rural Development Under Secretary Xochitl Torres Small tells Brownfield a biobased product is any product made from plants, trees, or any other renewable agricultural material. “Or even marine plants like seaweed that’s used, so that can be everything from construction materials that are made using a cashew nut or a caster and canola, or cleaning products all the way to tires made from soy.”

And Torres Small says research continues to develop new biobased products that expand agricultural markets, improve quality of life and improve the environment. “That’s certainly a crucial part of this work to be able to identify new opportunities and use so that we can turn what might used to be a waste that you had to find a way to pay to get rid of, but now could end up being a product in the future.”

Torres Small says Wednesday’s first-ever National Biobased Products Day was about creating label awareness for biobased products, and she says there are nearly three-thousand companies making biobased products with producers in every state.

USDA also works with businesses through their BioPreferred® Program and has recognized government agencies for their environmental impact by using biobased products and championing farmers and their products.