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Senator Duckworth: Biotechnology investment is key to U.S. food and national security

Congress continues to work to keep the U.S. at the forefront of biotechnology innovation.

The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology recently released a report that included policy recommendations to help the ag industry streamline new technologies. 

Commissioner Paul Arcangeli says 49 recommendations have already been submitted to Congress.

“25 of them are already in bills in the House and Senate, so we’ve made very significant progress,” he says.

The commission is a bipartisan U.S. legislative commission established by Congress in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. 

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois says biotechnology is critical to safeguarding food security.

“By investing in the bio-manufacturing industry, we’re leveraging our domestic supply chains,” she says. “It has to remain domestic so that we’re growing and providing a customer base for those manufacturers to keep them going from project to project.”

Duckworth says the $51 million investment into the Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing Hub is a prime example of how agriculture can leverage land grant universities to help advance innovation.