USDA: Biobased industry creates millions of job
June 18, 2015 |12:13 AM
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Wednesday released a report showing that biobased industries contributed 4 million jobs and $369 billion to the U.S. economy in 2013.
“This report is the first to examine and quantify the effect of the U.S. biobased products industry from an economics and jobs perspective,” Vilsack said.
“Before, we could only speculate at the incredible economic impact of the biobased products industry,” he said.
“Today, we are also adding to the number of innovative products carrying USDA's BioPreferred label and expanding options for our nation’s biorefineries. This means small businesses and global companies alike can continue to harness the power of America's farms and forests to create new and innovative biobased products that are used all around the world.”
According to the “Economic Impact of the Biobased Product Industry” report, each job in the biobased products industry is responsible for generating 1.64 jobs in other sectors of the economy.
In 2013, 1.5 million jobs directly supported the biobased product industry, resulting in 1.1 million indirect jobs in related industries, and another 1.4 million induced jobs produced from the purchase of goods and services generated by the direct and indirect jobs, the report said.
“The BioPreferred Program enables biobased product manufacturers to distinguish their products in the marketplace, using a label that identifies the percentage of renewable content,” said Lloyd Ritter, co-director of the Ag Energy Coalition.
“The program already recognizes 14,000 individual products in 97 categories, but estimates that there are now 40,000 biobased products on the market,” Ritter said.
“The biobased products industry contributes $369 billion annually to the U.S. economy and employs more than 4 million Americans. Under the new rules, more biobased products will be eligible for this program. Together, the use of these 40,000 biobased products displaces about 300 million gallons of petroleum per year, which is equivalent to taking 200,000 cars off the road.”
“This report is the first to examine and quantify the effect of the U.S. biobased products industry from an economics and jobs perspective,” Vilsack said.
“Before, we could only speculate at the incredible economic impact of the biobased products industry,” he said.
“Today, we are also adding to the number of innovative products carrying USDA's BioPreferred label and expanding options for our nation’s biorefineries. This means small businesses and global companies alike can continue to harness the power of America's farms and forests to create new and innovative biobased products that are used all around the world.”
According to the “Economic Impact of the Biobased Product Industry” report, each job in the biobased products industry is responsible for generating 1.64 jobs in other sectors of the economy.
In 2013, 1.5 million jobs directly supported the biobased product industry, resulting in 1.1 million indirect jobs in related industries, and another 1.4 million induced jobs produced from the purchase of goods and services generated by the direct and indirect jobs, the report said.
“The BioPreferred Program enables biobased product manufacturers to distinguish their products in the marketplace, using a label that identifies the percentage of renewable content,” said Lloyd Ritter, co-director of the Ag Energy Coalition.
“The program already recognizes 14,000 individual products in 97 categories, but estimates that there are now 40,000 biobased products on the market,” Ritter said.
“The biobased products industry contributes $369 billion annually to the U.S. economy and employs more than 4 million Americans. Under the new rules, more biobased products will be eligible for this program. Together, the use of these 40,000 biobased products displaces about 300 million gallons of petroleum per year, which is equivalent to taking 200,000 cars off the road.”
