Women in the Bioeconomy
Women make most consumer purchases, lead community systems, and are now designing the replacement for the petrochemical economy.
This Foundation is built around a simple reality: if women control demand, they can also control what gets funded, manufactured, and built. The bioeconomy is a full industrial shift led by women as buyers, researchers, operators, and owners.
Why Women Drive the Transition
Across the economy, women:
make the majority of household purchasing decisions
anchor schools, healthcare, and community services
manage budgets for families, nonprofits, and small businesses
In a petrochemical system, that power has been trapped inside limited choices: toxic products, long supply chains, and extractive companies. In a bioindustrial economy, women become the signal that tells fields, factories, and finance what to build next.
This page exists to make that connection explicit — and to give women a direct path into research, procurement, ownership, and policy.
The Foundation organizes support around the real roles women already play and the roles they’re stepping into next.
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Demand Signal
Women as buyers decide which materials win. Hemp and bamboo products, local manufacturing, and FEOC-compliant supply chains grow when women direct their spending toward them and when the options actually exist.
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Researchers & Engineers
Women in labs, engineering programs, and design studios are writing the next generation of standards, materials, and industrial processes. The Foundation aligns grants, lab partnerships, and open-source results to amplify that work.
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Operators & Owners
Women-led farms, cooperatives, and manufacturing teams are the backbone of a durable bioeconomy. From processing hubs to rural redevelopment projects, the programs are built to support women as decision-makers, not token stakeholders.
Programs The Prioritize Women Led Teams
Several Foundation programs explicitly prioritize women-led or women-majority teams across research, farming, processing, and enterprise:
Grants for Women-Led Bioeconomy Projects
Supports women-led research labs, startups, and community organizations working with hemp, bamboo, and fiber-based systems.Farmer Transition Support
Helps women farmers and land stewards shift acreage into hemp and bamboo, stack carbon income, and access processing markets.Bioeconomy Grants & Research
Connects women researchers with multi-backer funding models and open-source publication paths.Rural Redevelopment & Bioindustrial Studio Projects
Channels investment into towns where women are already holding schools, clinics, and local businesses together — and turning that stability into new industrial capacity.
Evidence, Not Slogans
The role of women in the bioeconomy is documented. The Foundation connects:
Library categories on women & enterprise, funding, policy, and rural development
real case studies of women-led fiber projects, cooperatives, and manufacturing pilots
evidence trails that tie consumer purchases to industrial outcomes
The Evidence Wall on Now We Evolve tracks how we arrived here. The Library shows what’s already been proven. This page exists to make it easier for women to plug into that system, not to start from scratch..
How Women Plug Into the Foundation
Whether you’re a student, seasoned engineer, farmer, or organizer, there is a direct way to participate:
Students & Researchers — Submit research ideas or existing work through Submit Research.
Farmers & Landowners — Explore Farmer Transition Support and rural redevelopment programs.
Entrepreneurs & Operators — Apply for Grants for Women-Led… and connect with partners through the Network pages.
Community & Policy Leaders — Use the Library and Evidence Wall to brief your boards, councils, and coalitions.
The goal isn’t for women to “support” a new industrial era. The goal is for women to define it.
