Last September, President Joe Biden unveiled the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, an executive order designed to advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing. Although food was mentioned as a target, there were few specifics regarding the industry in the order.
Fast forward six months, and the White House has now issued a report that calls for biotechnology to be used to improve the sustainability and productivity of food and agriculture. Describing the goals laid out as “bold,” the report’s hopes include reducing methane emissions from agriculture to support the U.S. goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% and the global goal to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Regarding the supply chain, the goal is to produce at least 30% of the U.S. chemical demand via sustainable and cost-effective biomanufacturing pathways in the next 20 years.
Some of what the report calls for are improving modeling and methods for estimating, measuring, and monitoring sources of greenhouse gas and sinks and carbon cycling and sequestration in biomass and soils; developing a nationally applicable framework and associated tools for measuring and verifying carbon and nutrient flux in agricultural systems producing bioeconomy feedstocks; conducting R&D on plants and soil microbial communities to generate knowledge for producing new dedicated feedstocks using less carbon-intensive practices; and to develop rigorous and transparent process analyses relative to existing food protein production pathways to inform development of sustainable bioprocesses.
Charles R. Santerre, PhD, professor of food, nutrition, and packaging sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina, is not so sure that these goals are as truly bold as they claim, and he was surprised that the Environmental Protection Agency was not a part of their development. “We’ve looked at the bioeconomy, which used to mean converting of materials into biofuels, but now it’s taken on a much bigger definition,” he tells Food Quality & Safety. “One of the things I am critical of about this is using agriculture products as energy; I’m not a big fan of that.”
Nevertheless, the report’s goals come from the President, so must see some action. “The world is on the cusp of an industrial revolution fueled by biotechnology and biomanufacturing,” the report states. “While the most prominent applications today are related to human health, biotechnology and biomanufacturing are expanding to build products that will be everywhere in our lives and support climate and energy goals, improve food security, and grow the economy across all of America.”
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