1 of 22

Dr. Kathleen Liang�W.K. Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Agriculture�Director, Center for Environmental Farming Systems�North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University�336 285 4683 cliang@ncat.edu

Transformative design of effective supply chains under the bioeconomy concept

2 of 22

3 of 22

4 of 22

Key points

  • Bioeconomy, circular economy, and their importance
  • Conduct and Construction of the Supply Chain Related to Bioeconomy
    • social, economic, political, and environmental connectivity and outcomes (impacts)
  • Use funded projects as examples in supporting local/small businesses
  • Brainstorm collaboration opportunities

5 of 22

Bioeconomy

  • Bioeconomy relates to the production and use of biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower.
  • Bioeconomy ≠ Circular Economy

6 of 22

7 of 22

8 of 22

Conduct of the Supply Chain

The "conduct" of a supply chain refers to the ethical behavior and responsible practices of the organizations and individuals within it, encompassing how they manage and execute activities from sourcing raw materials to delivering finished products to consumers. Key aspects of supply chain conduct include adherence to labor standards, human rights, environmental responsibility, and business ethics to foster a sustainable and trustworthy system. (Generative AI)

9 of 22

Conduct of the Supply Chain - Bioeconomy

  • Input-Output
    • Sources – ag, non-ag, households, by-products
    • Value-added - From trash to treasure
  • People, Places, Procedures, Policies
  • Social, economic, environmental, and political aspects of the sustainability
    • Multifunctional Impacts (e.g. food vs fuel)

10 of 22

Construction of the Supply Chain

  • Collection
  • Storage
  • Processing
  • Distribution

  • Origin
  • Location
  • Technology
  • Market

  • Costs
  • Value/Benefit
  • Logistics
  • By-product

Actions

Entities

Impacts

Input

Feedback

Coordination

11 of 22

In 2016, the ‘FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship’ were published in Scientific Data. The authors intended to provide guidelines to improve the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets. The principles emphasise machine-actionability (i.e., the capacity of computational systems to find, access, interoperate, and reuse data with none or minimal human intervention) because humans increasingly rely on computational support to deal with data as a result of the increase in volume, complexity, and creation speed of data.

A practical “how to” guidance to go FAIR can be found in the Three-point FAIRification Framework.

Findable�The first step in (re)using data is to find them. Metadata and data should be easy to find for both humans and computers. Machine-readable metadata are essential for automatic discovery of datasets and services, so this is an essential component of the FAIRification process.

F1. (Meta)data are assigned a globally unique and persistent identifier

F2. Data are described with rich metadata (defined by R1 below)

F3. Metadata clearly and explicitly include the identifier of the data they describe

F4. (Meta)data are registered or indexed in a searchable resource

Accessible�Once the user finds the required data, she/he/they need to know how they can be accessed, possibly including authentication and authorisation.

A1. (Meta)data are retrievable by their identifier using a standardised communications protocol

A1.1 The protocol is open, free, and universally implementable

A1.2 The protocol allows for an authentication and authorisation procedure, where necessary

A2. Metadata are accessible, even when the data are no longer available

12 of 22

Interoperable�The data usually need to be integrated with other data. In addition, the data need to interoperate with applications or workflows for analysis, storage, and processing.

I1. (Meta)data use a formal, accessible, shared, and broadly applicable language for knowledge representation.

I2. (Meta)data use vocabularies that follow FAIR principles

I3. (Meta)data include qualified references to other (meta)data

Reusable�The ultimate goal of FAIR is to optimise the reuse of data. To achieve this, metadata and data should be well-described so that they can be replicated and/or combined in different settings.

R1. (Meta)data are richly described with a plurality of accurate and relevant attributes

R1.1. (Meta)data are released with a clear and accessible data usage license

R1.2. (Meta)data are associated with detailed provenance

R1.3. (Meta)data meet domain-relevant community standards

The principles refer to three types of entities: data (or any digital object), metadata (information about that digital object), and infrastructure. For instance, principle F4 defines that both metadata and data are registered or indexed in a searchable resource (the infrastructure component).

13 of 22

14 of 22

Examples of Innovative Supply Chain and Opportunities of Community Development

Need everyone’s engagement

15 of 22

Design an entrepreneurial supply chain�Choose one type of composting

  • Sources – ag, non-ag, households, by-products
  • From trash to treasure – value-added
  • Social, economic, environmental, and political aspects of the sustainability

16 of 22

Examples of Future Composting��- new gaps and opportunities

17 of 22

Community-based Precision Composting

18 of 22

How about General Small Businesses?

19 of 22

20 of 22

Rural Development (RD) RD invested over $200 million in bioeconomy projects, including advanced biofuels, biofuel infrastructure, renewable fertilizer production, and biogas and biomass projects; as well as greatly expanded the BioPreferred® Program

Research, Education, and Economics (REE) USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and USDA Agricultural Research Service programs invested over $500 million in new research and development to advance the Nation’s bioeconomy. Programs include the Bioproduct Pilot Program, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, and the Biomass Research Centers and Utilization Centers in a wide range of topics

Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) The USDA Forest Service made catalytic investments in the wood-based bioeconomy to support land management, wildfire risk reduction, climate adaptation, and local economies, totaling $72 million across 160 projects to support innovation, market development, and new and expanded manufacturing capacity to bolster the critical connection between healthy and resilient Federal, State, Tribal, and private forests and the wood products economy

Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) The USDA Risk Management Agency adopted new flexibilities to insure double-crop soybeans in approximately 845 additional counties, or on roughly 32 percent more acres in 2023 when compared to prior years (2014-2022). The agency also expanded insurance for camelina and carinata in 10 States, enabling farmers to supply these oilseed crops to meet increasing demand for biofuels

21 of 22

22 of 22

What could we work together to build a stronger bioeconomy and community?

Some key Issues

  • Availability – production, intermediary, labor vs high tech
  • Affordability – costs vs prices
  • Accessibility – transportation, market
  • Accountability – food safety, health

Enrich People Imagine Place Cultivate Prosperity

Grow (Education, Outreach, Training)

knowledge, information, networks, opportunity