Title 7AgricultureRelease 119-73

§7624 Biobased products

Title 7 › Chapter CHAPTER 103— - AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH, EXTENSION, AND EDUCATION REFORM › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - NEW AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH, EXTENSION, AND EDUCATION INITIATIVES › § 7624

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Agriculture Secretary must lead efforts to develop, commercialize, and promote products made partly or entirely from renewable farm and forest materials. A "biobased product" is a product for food or nonfood use that comes from renewable agricultural or forestry materials. The Secretary must coordinate USDA research and market work, get input from private makers, run a single contact point for technical help, and send Congress an annual report on these efforts. The Secretary may make cooperative agreements that let Agricultural Research Service and Forest Service facilities and staff run pilot plants and large preparation sites to move new biobased technologies toward real-world use. Work can include studying environmental effects, finding ways to cut manufacturing costs, and other research. The Secretary may rent government-owned equipment to partners. Eligible partners include groups with certain government research agreements or who received specific biotech or small-business research funding. The Agricultural Research Service may also run a competitive pilot grant program for its scientists to develop commercially promising biobased products in each fiscal year 1999 through 2012. The Secretary can use money specifically appropriated for this work and funds available for cooperative research agreements, but not those cooperative-research funds for the ARS pilot grants. Private partners may sell pilot products to test the market. Congress authorized whatever money is needed to carry this out for fiscal years 1999 through 2012.

Full Legal Text

Title 7, §7624

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In this section, the term “biobased product” means a product suitable for food or nonfood use that is derived in whole or in part from renewable agricultural and forestry materials.
(b)The Secretary of Agriculture shall—
(1)coordinate the research, technical expertise, economic information, and market information resources and activities of the Department to develop, commercialize, and promote the use of biobased products;
(2)solicit input from private sector persons who produce, or are interested in producing, biobased products;
(3)provide a centralized contact point for advice and technical assistance for promising and innovative biobased products; and
(4)submit an annual report to Congress describing the coordinated research, marketing, and commercialization activities of the Department relating to biobased products.
(c)(1)The Secretary may enter into cooperative agreements with private entities described in subsection (d), under which the facilities and technical expertise of the Agricultural Research Service and the Forest Service may be made available to operate pilot plants and other large-scale preparation facilities for the purpose of bringing technologies necessary for the development and commercialization of new biobased products to the point of practical application.
(2)Cooperative activities may include—
(A)research on potential environmental impacts of a biobased product;
(B)methods to reduce the cost of manufacturing a biobased product; and
(C)other appropriate research.
(3)To carry out a cooperative agreement with a private entity under paragraph (1), the Secretary may rent to the private entity equipment, the title of which is held by the Federal Government.
(d)The following entities shall be eligible to enter into a cooperative agreement under subsection (c):
(1)A party that has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with the Secretary under section 12 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a).
(2)A recipient of funding from the Biotechnology Research and Development Corporation.
(3)A recipient of funding from the Secretary under a Small Business Innovation Research Program established under section 638 of title 15.
(e)The Secretary, acting through the Agricultural Research Service, may establish and carry out a pilot project under which grants are provided, on a competitive basis, to scientists of the Agricultural Research Service to—
(1)encourage innovative and collaborative science; and
(2)during each of fiscal years 1999 through 2012, develop biobased products with promising commercial potential.
(f)(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), to carry out this section, the Secretary may use—
(A)funds appropriated to carry out this section; and
(B)funds otherwise available for cooperative research and development agreements under the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.).
(2)The Secretary may not use funds referred to in paragraph (1)(B) to carry out subsection (e).
(g)For the purpose of determining the market potential for new biobased products produced at a pilot plant or other large-scale preparation facility under a cooperative agreement under this section, the Secretary shall authorize the private partner or partners to the agreement to sell the products.
(h)There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section for each of fiscal years 1999 through 2012.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980, referred to in subsec. (f)(1)(B), is Pub. L. 96–480, Oct. 21, 1980, 94 Stat. 2311, which is classified generally to chapter 63 (§ 3701 et seq.) of Title 15, Commerce and Trade. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 3701 of Title 15 and Tables. Codification Pub. L. 110–234 and Pub. L. 110–246 made identical

Amendments

to this section. The

Amendments

by Pub. L. 110–234 were repealed by section 4(a) of Pub. L. 110–246.

Amendments

2009—Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 111–88, § 431(1), substituted “Agricultural Research Service and the Forest Service” for “Agricultural Research Service”. Subsec. (c)(3). Pub. L. 111–88, § 431(2), added par. (3). 2008—Subsec. (e)(2). Pub. L. 110–246, § 7304(a), substituted “2012” for “2007”. Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 110–246, § 7304(b), substituted “2012” for “2007”. 2002—Subsec. (d)(2) to (4). Pub. L. 107–171, § 6201(d)(4), redesignated pars. (3) and (4) as (2) and (3), respectively, and struck out former par. (2) which read as follows: “A recipient of funding from the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corporation established under section 5902 of this title.” Subsec. (e)(2). Pub. L. 107–171, § 7124(a), substituted “2007” for “2001”. Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 107–171, § 7124(b), substituted “2007” for “2002”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2008 AmendmentAmendment of this section and repeal of Pub. L. 110–234 by Pub. L. 110–246 effective May 22, 2008, the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–234, see section 4 of Pub. L. 110–246, set out as an

Effective Date

note under section 8701 of this title. Pilot Program on Use of Agricultural Commodities in

Construction

and Consumer Products Pub. L. 117–58, div. G, title V, § 70501, Nov. 15, 2021, 135 Stat. 1266, provided that: “(a) Definitions.—In this section:“(1)

Construction

product.—The term ‘

Construction

product’ means any article, or component part thereof, produced or distributed for use during the

Construction

, maintenance, or preservation of a highway, road, street, bridge, building, dam, port, or airport

Construction

project. “(2) Consumer product.—The term ‘consumer product’ means—“(A) any article, or component part thereof, produced or distributed—“(i) for sale to a consumer for use in or around a permanent or temporary household or residence, a school, in recreation, or otherwise; or “(ii) for the personal use, consumption or enjoyment of a consumer in or around a permanent or temporary household or residence, a school, in recreation, or otherwise; and “(B) any product or product category described in subparagraphs (A) through (I) of section 3(a)(5) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2052(a)(5)). “(3) Covered agricultural commodity.—The term ‘covered agricultural commodity’ means any agricultural commodity, food, feed, fiber, livestock, oil, or a derivative thereof, that the Secretary determines to have been used in the production of materials that have demonstrated market viability and benefits (as described in paragraphs (1) through (7) of subsection (b)) as of the date of enactment of this Act. “(4) Qualified institution.—The term ‘qualified institution’ means a bioproducts research facility that—“(A) is funded, in part, by a State; “(B) is located within a reasonable distance, not to exceed 3 miles, of the primary residence hall of an institution of higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))); “(C) provides students opportunities to engage in research activities; and “(D) provides opportunities for an institution of higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) to collaborate with private enterprise. “(5) Secretary.—The term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of Agriculture. “(b) Establishment.—The Secretary shall carry out a pilot program under which the Secretary shall partner with not less than 1 qualified institution to study the benefits of using materials derived from covered agricultural commodities in the production of

Construction

products and consumer products, including—“(1) cost savings relative to other commonly used alternative materials; “(2) greenhouse gas emission reductions and other environmental benefits relative to other commonly used alternative materials; “(3) life-cycle and longevity-extending characteristics relative to other commonly used alternative materials; “(4) life-cycle and longevity-reducing characteristics relative to other commonly used alternative materials; “(5) landfill quantity and waste management cost reductions; “(6) product development and production scale-up; and “(7) any other benefits that the Secretary determines to be appropriate. “(c) Authorization of Appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2023.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

7 U.S.C. § 7624

Title 7Agriculture

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73