Veneman Announces Agreement for Increased Use of Biobased Products by Federal Agencies

9/26/2002

From: Alisa Harrison of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 202-720-4623

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 -- Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman today announced a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Iowa State University to help implement provisions of the 2002 Farm Bill Energy Title that provides for preferred procurement of biobased products by federal agencies.

"The new Farm Bill provides USDA with additional tools to further the goals of the President's national energy policy," said Veneman. "We expect this new program to help stimulate broad interest in commercial and industrial products made from agricultural and forest materials. This initiative will help expand markets for farmers and foresters through the use of value-added bioenergy agricultural products."

Under the cooperative agreement, USDA will provide $1 million annually for testing biobased products which will help enable USDA move more quickly to get the biobased product procurement program in operation.

In the near future, USDA will issue proposed guidelines for use by federal agencies in meeting the biobased product procurement requirements as outlined in the Farm Bill. An electronic list of available qualified biobased products will be provided to federal agencies to assist them in meeting their purchase requirements. A voluntary USDA Certified Biobased Product labeling program will emphasize the beneficial environmental and performance characteristics of biobased products that qualify for the use of the label.

Iowa State University was chosen to lead the effort because of the significant resources it has directed toward developing biobased products and bioenergy, including its Biorenewable Resources and Technology graduate program, Center for Crops Utilization Research, and Center for Industrial Research.

Under the agreement, Iowa State University will partner with other universities and entities to develop capacity for testing biobased products, including:

-- Create a management information system for the long-term operation of the biobased procurement, labeling and testing program; -- Establish the capability for testing biobased products by its own scientists; -- Identify and qualify other university and private sector testing entities across the United States; -- Establish protocols and procedures to assure availability of capacity and capability to perform biobased testing of products that manufacturers want to qualify for placement on the preferred procurement list; and -- Coordinate product testing services to manufacturers and prospective purchasers.

A portion of the funds available under the Energy Title of the Farm Bill are being provided to the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to enable its Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) model to analyze products made from biobased feedstocks. As a result of this work, the BEES model will be fully available for use by manufacturers of biobased products to evaluate the life cycle costs and environmental effects of their products, on a cost reimbursable basis. The BEES model will facilitate labeling by evaluating the environmental and life cycle effects of biobased products.