USDA invests $9.5 million to develop new bioproducts from agricultural commodities

In Washington D.C., the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced an investment of $9.5 million to support the scale-up of sustainable bioproduct manufacturing in the United States. Three successful projects are funded through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Bioproduct Pilot Program, which funds research and development of value-added products from agricultural commodities. “Adopting a more circular economy ensures that wealth and other economic benefits in the form of jobs and other opportunities are created, and stay, in rural communities,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “We must support and incentivize practices like these, because it’s what consumers want — and what farmers, and our planet, need.” The three awardees are Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, for a project that proposes to convert food waste into biodegradable, polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)-based bioplastics; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, for a project that proposes to convert swine manure and other organic feedstocks into biobinders for asphalt and Soylei Innovations, of Ames, Iowa, for a project that proposes to transform high oleic soybean oil into thermoplastic rubber for pavements. “Each of the recommended projects includes collaborations with universities and companies that can bridge the gap between invention and the marketplace as well as produce stronger and more effective outcomes,” said Dionne Toombs, acting director of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the agency administering the awards.

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