As the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, the United States has fallen behind when it comes to biomanufacturing. Our nation’s supply chains have become fragile and overstretched, with much manufacturing happening outside our borders. This has played a role in domestic shortages of essential medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients over the past five years.
As policymakers work to shore up America’s domestic manufacturing capacity for pharmaceuticals, they’d be prudent to acknowledge the potential of broader biomanufacturing for food, materials, energy, agricultural inputs, and more.
In agriculture, the rise of biotechnology and biomanufacturing is poised to revolutionize how we develop fertilizers, protect crops, and grow food. For example, we can produce biological versions of crop inputs, like insecticides and fungicides, reducing our dependence on synthetic chemicals. This type of innovation would not only keep American farmers competitive globally and bring new biomanufacturing jobs to our rural communities but would also strengthen our nation’s food security.
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