The U.S. bioeconomy offers opportunities to diversify energy options and deliver environmental enhancements. The 2023 Billion-Ton Report (U.S. DOE, 2024) estimates the US can produce 0.3¨C1.3 billion tons of biomass annually beyond current uses. These resources can be converted into fuels, chemicals, and products, while supporting land management and rural economies. In parallel, investments from major corporations highlight demand for environmental benefits that biomass systems can provide. At present, supply chain gaps and market uncertainty reinforce ¡°chicken-and-egg¡± barriers to broader deployment. This presentation will examine how near-term, small-scale bioeconomy opportunities can be leveraged to establish flexible and resilient supply chains, which can respond to a range of future market, policy, and technology conditions.

Replacing fossil feedstocks with renewable biomass is a key element of a successful circular bioeconomy. The carbon needed for bioproducts abounds in the environment, but it is locked into materials that are not yet cost-effective to use. Schmidt Sciences¡¯ Virtual Institute on Feedstocks of the Future (VIFF), with support from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), takes on the challenge of ¡°turning the carbon we have into the carbon we want.¡± VIFF is a five-year research consortium of consortia engaging universities, national laboratories, and industry and community partners. VIFF¡¯s mission is to expand the science, technology, and engineering available to advance the use of underutilized biomass byproducts in bioproduction, creating new economic and environmental benefits. Launched in 2024, VIFF funds five interdisciplinary teams of researchers, crowding in expertise from chemical, biological, and mechanical engineering, economics, marine biology, agricultural extension, community outreach, and more. Each project team focuses its innovative research on different obstacles and opportunities associated with specific prospective ¡°future feedstocks,¡± processing and conversion technologies, and regional biomass utilization. Collectively, these project teams collaborate and share knowledge to help build a future in which nontraditional biomass feedstocks bring us closer to a sustainable and circular bioeconomy. Early findings indicate that the program is poised to make significant, real-world impacts, building on the projects¡¯ active engagement with industry leaders and stakeholders.