For more than a century, American farmers have fed the world. In the decades ahead, they can do something just as transformative: power the world’s transition to renewable energy and materials.

Agriculture sits at the center of one of the greatest economic opportunities of the 21st century. By creating the world’s largest renewable biomass market, the United States can transform crops grown in places like Northeast Wisconsin into the building blocks of the modern economy—powering AI datacenters, fueling airplanes, replacing petroleum-based plastics, supplying advanced manufacturing, and producing the next generation of pharmaceuticals.

This isn’t just an environmental idea. It’s an economic development strategy for rural America—one that aligns perfectly with a prosperity economy built on innovation, sustainability, and long-term growth.

 

The Opportunity: A Bio-Based Industrial Revolution

 

Today, most of the materials that power the modern economy come from fossil fuels:

• Electricity
• Jet fuel
• Diesel
• Plastics
• Industrial lubricants
• Chemical feedstocks
• Pharmaceutical precursors

But many of these products can be produced from renewable biomass grown on American farms.

Farmers already produce the raw materials needed to supply a wide range of industries:

Instead of simply selling crops into commodity markets, farmers could participate in multiple high-value supply chains simultaneously. One acre could produce food, fuel, and industrial materials.

Why This Matters for Rural America

Farmers face an economic challenge that policymakers rarely address: volatile commodity prices.

When global crop prices fall, rural economies suffer. But if agriculture becomes the feedstock for multiple industries, farmers gain access to new revenue streams that stabilize farm income.

 

Imagine a future where:

• Corn feeds both people and aviation fuel refineries
• Soybeans supply food markets and industrial lubricants
• Crop residues become bioplastics and advanced materials

Instead of relying on a single commodity market, farmers would participate in diversified industrial markets.

That means:

• Higher demand for agricultural products
• More stable farm income
• New rural manufacturing jobs
• Stronger local economies

Wisconsin Is Perfectly Positioned

What Farmers Could Produce

A renewable biomass market would unlock an entire ecosystem of new products and industries.

Electrical Generation

Biomass electricity is generated by using renewable organic materials from farms and forests, like industrial hemp, corn stalks, wood waste, or manure, to produce heat or gas that drives turbines and generates electricity.

Renewable Diesel

Renewable diesel made from oilseed crops is already expanding rapidly.

Oil crops grown in Wisconsin and across the Midwest can become clean-burning diesel fuel for trucking and shipping.

Sustainable Aviation

Airlines around the world are under pressure to reduce carbon emissions. Next-gen lightweight composites paired with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) could enhance an already strong NE Wisconsin aviation sector.

Bio-Plastics

Petroleum-based plastics are increasingly being replaced with bio-based polymers made from agricultural materials.

These materials are used in packaging, automotive parts, consumer goods and medical equipment.

Industrial Lubricants

Plant-based lubricants are safer, biodegradable, and increasingly used in manufacturing and heavy equipment.

Pharma 
Inputs

Many modern medicines rely on complex biological compounds that can be produced through agricultural biotechnology.

Future crops could become the raw materials for pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The Role of the Federal Government

The goal is not for government to run agriculture. The goal is to help create markets—just as federal policy helped build the agricultural economy we have today.

Energy Independence Through Agriculture

The United States still spends hundreds of billions of dollars every year importing fossil fuels. By expanding renewable biomass markets, American agriculture can help power the nation’s energy future.

Farmers could become:

• energy producers
• industrial suppliers
• partners in advanced manufacturing

This strengthens national security while creating opportunity across rural America.

A Prosperity Economy for the 21st Century

My vision for a prosperity economy is simple:

Economic growth should improve the lives of everyday Americans while protecting the resources future generations depend on. Renewable biomass markets do exactly that.

They:

• strengthen rural economies
• support American farmers
• expand domestic manufacturing
• reduce reliance on fossil fuels
• create high-value new industries

And most importantly, they give rural communities a central role in America’s economic future.

Farmers Powered the 20th Century.

They Can Power the 21st.

Something for Everybody

This isn’t left or right—it’s rural America leading the next industrial revolution.