09/07/07 The Business of Biofuels

The Business of Biofuels. I'm Greg Martin as Line On Agriculture presents the Harvest Clean Energy Report. The topic of biofuels will be forefront next Thursday and Friday at the Business of Biofuels Conference in Gresham, Oregon. Nikola Davidson is the Program Director for Northwest Biofuels Association who is co-sponsoring the event. DAVIDSON: It's a two-day conference and it started last year with one day and then Peter Moulton with Climate Solutions said what we really need to do is get ahead of these sustainability issues surrounding biofuels, let's add on another day and really take these issues head on. The two day event will be held at Mount Hood Community College and according to Davidson will take a close look at a number of energy topics. DAVIDSON: On the first day we're looking at everything from the food versus fuel controversy, water resources, energy balance, crop soil health and then introducing new crops, talking about GMO's and different varieties and how they may impact different crops. The second day is getting more into what's going on in the current biofuels world with respect to production and what's the latest technology, what's happening with cellulosic ethanol, what about biodiesel protection and that kind of thing. The event is being co-sponsored by the Oregon Science and Technology Partnership and the Northwest Biofuels Association. Davidson says the Association was born out of the necessity of having regional representation. DAVIDSON: We started about a year ago and it was a number of people in the biofuels industry saying you know we really need to come together as an association and we need to have one that's regionally focused; like our issues here are a lot different than what's going on in the Midwest or other parts of the country. We do hear about a variety of alternatives and there is a degree of competition in the industry but many feel that there simply is no one solution. DAVIDSON: I think that's a really good point that there isn't one silver bullet and people talk about the silver buckshot and I think in a way that's better than trying to pin all your hopes on just one solution and then if we have all different things that we are trying then we're going to have the best chance of getting somewhere. To register for the conference go to nwbiofuels.org. For additional information on clean energy, visit harvestcleanenergy.org. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network. www.harvestcleanenergy.org www.nwbiofuels.org