President Clinton signed an executive order in 1998 declaring that the entire federal apparatus was to reduce its dependence on fossil-fuel or petroleum-based products by generating a list of approved products that were created with a biological base. Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, has announced efforts to streamline the procurement of bio-based products and clarifying the purchasing process.

Indeed, clarification is helpful here. Many of these bio-based products aren’t especially obvious. The government isn’t replacing jet fighters with hybrid planes. Nor will there be wind farms sprouting up on the National Mall. No, among the success stories on the list is soy ink. Map printers at the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, switched to ink made from soy instead of petroleum. “We have all sorts of Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations and standards to deal with; soy ink just makes it easier for us to comply,” USGS spokesman Clarence Hill said in a statement to the United Soybean Board. “For example, the soy ink is so much safer and convenient to dispose of than petroleum-based inks. The same is true for cleaning the press. The cleaning solvents for soy ink are far less toxic and easier to use than those for oil-based inks.” And, of course, there’s the Vegetable Ink Printing Act of 1994 to contend with. “Soy ink makes us compliant with the Act,” says Mike Tobin of the USGS. In the 1960s, soybean production exceeded usage, prompting the American Soybean Association to fund research to find new uses for the crop. By the 1980s, with help from Monsanto, soy-based ink was created. In the 1990s, a marketing and lobbying campaign was well under way. When the Act passed Congress, it made soybean farmers very happy.

While the obvious winners for now are soybeans and corn, other materials are being considered. “A number of firms have woody plant materials,” says Marvin Duncan of the USDA. “Then there is animal waste and municipal waste. These can be turned into methane gas. It has a positive affect on a number of agricultural areas. And bio-based products have to be manufactured and processed closer to where the product is grown. It will benefit rural America.”

But Shana Love of the USDA says the department wasn’t running the program just because it benefited agriculture. It reduces the dependence on petroleum and helps rural communities. “The EPA could have managed it as well,” she says. “It benefits a lot more agencies than just the USDA. It’s just that a lot of the products are agriculturally based.”

Enforcement is being beefed up now because the 2002 Farm Bill gave the USDA a little more muscle by requiring the federal government and its contractors to give procurement preference to bio-based products. The 1998 Executive Order had only encouraged agencies to give consideration to products on the preferred list. Soft words. And there wasn’t any guideline about how to get it done or any funding beyond what was provided for testing products. “It took three years to create the program. Figure out how to do it, who would do it and where to get the funding,” Love says.

The BioPreferred team has five full time employees and several contracted workers. Private firms provide products, like soy ink, and the USDA puts those products through intense studies before they make the approved list. With more than 10,000 products commercially available for purchase, Love is requesting additional funding in the next farm bill. “Several states are jumping on board and creating similar programs based on ours. We take that as a positive statement,” Love says. “We want to do it right and as we move forward, we want to do it well.”

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