Findings; purposes

(a) Findings Congress finds that— (1) biobased products provide additional markets for farm commodities, reducing the reliance of the United States on petroleum and increasing the use of renewable agricultural resources while driving rural economic development and growth; (2) United States farmers produce feedstock used to produce a variety of biobased products, including personal care products, industrial paints solvents, construction materials, and apparels and textiles; (3) the BioPreferred Program of the Department of Agriculture is designed to increase the purchase and use of biobased products through a mandatory Federal purchasing initiative and a voluntary labeling initiative, thereby supporting additional markets for agricultural commodities and rural economic development; (4) according to the Department of Agriculture, there are approximately 15,000 biobased products participating in the BioPreferred Program, with approximately 2,600 biobased products authorized to display the USDA Certified Biobased Product label under the voluntary labeling initiative; (5) there were 3,940,000 people employed in the United States biobased products industry in 2021; (6) the value-added contribution of the biobased products industry to the economy grew even through the COVID–19 pandemic, from $470,000,000,000 in 2017 to $489,000,000,000 in 2021; and (7) each job in the biobased products industry supports an estimated 1.4 jobs in other sectors of the economy. (b) Purposes The purposes of this Act are— (1) to recognize the value that biobased products bring to agriculture in the United States; (2) to support domestic manufacturing of biobased products made from agricultural commodities, including corn and soybeans; (3) to expand the role of the Department of Agriculture in the promotion of biobased products; (4) to build on procurement programs administered by the Department of Agriculture to increase Federal purchasing of biobased products; (5) to strengthen domestic manufacturing of biobased products; and (6) to make a national commitment to the rural and agricultural economies of the United States.