Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture is a man on a mission – to make Florida the nation’s leader in biofuels production.
To that end, Commissioner Charles Bronson appeared before a joint meeting of the House Agribusiness and House Energy Committees on Wednesday urging them to consider tax incentives or some form of financial assistance that the state can provide to encourage growers to produce alternative energy crops and processors to locate facilities in Florida to convert the crops to fuel.
“You today are in a position of putting Florida ahead of the pack,” Bronson said. “It will be a Florida that looks much different than it does today.”
The Commissioner told legislators that unlike the Midwest, where corn is the primary alternative energy crop, research done at the University of Florida has concluded that by using certain bacteria, virtually any type of bio-mass can be broken down to fuel. That would include wood, forestry debris, plant stalks and even livestock waste in addition to conventional crops.
“The opportunities in Florida are going to shock you,” Bronson said.