Plastics May Be New Farm Product

May 8, 2001

U.S. farmers, who already produce an abundance of healthy food, soon could be producing products used to manufacture plastics that could be used for plates and dishes for serving that food. Several farm groups are supporting an effort spearheaded by the Department of Energy that could reduce U.S. reliance on imported oil by more fully harnessing the energy and industrial potential of renewable crops like corn, wheat, soybeans and trees.

Mace Thornton, director of news services for the American Farm Bureau Federation, the agricultural community and the Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technology are focusing on a strategy to earn a 10% market share by 2020 for renewable crops and plants in the manufacture of everyday consumer goods, such as plastics, paints, adhesives and fibers.

The Energy Department's overall bioproducts strategy, called Ag Vision, aims to show that renewable farm crops and plants can become viable "chemical feedstocks." In addition to decreasing the need for foreign oil, using more renewable farm crops for energy and as basic chemical building blocks could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase recycling opportunities and create new, world-class industries in rural America.

"In today's terms, the 2020 goal of the Ag Vision initiative -- using America's renewable crops for 10% of the chemical feedstock market -- would mean an increase in U.S. farm income of approximately $5 billion per year," according to an article Thornton wrote for the AFBF web site.. The key to reaching the 10% goal, and a subsequent goal of 50% by 2050, is securing a substantial investment in research and development.

The Energy Department's Ag Vision initiative is the only federal program that concentrates on increasing the use of renewable resources for chemicals and supporting the research and development agenda needed for success, Thornton says. Coupled with another program that also focuses on energy, the Bioproducts/Bioenergy Initiative, "this integrated strategy makes sense."

However, funding for the programs is needed above the amount outlined in the Bush administration budget. Two appropriations bills ultimately could decide the future of farm crops and plants as renewable resources in the non-food marketplace. In the Interior appropriations bill, Farm Bureau and other ag groups are requesting an appropriation of $15 million for the Energy Department's Ag Vision program, and in the Energy and Water appropriations bill they are asking for $18 million for the Bioproducts/Bioenergy Initiative.

"Without that level of support, the plate that holds the research and development funding for farm-grown renewables would be about two-thirds empty," says Thornton. "Few dividends would be expected."