The latest in a series of conferences sponsored by the Farm Foundation on how this country can transition to a bioeconomy takes place this week in St. Louis, Mo.
Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Development Impacts brings together government officials… featuring USDA chief Ed Schafer…, bioenergy experts and leaders in the private industry to discuss environmental and rural development issues in that transition:
The conference program will examine how the emerging bioeconomy may impact such things as domestic and global land use, water quality, jobs and local economies. Other sessions will focus on how this emerging bioeconomy may be shaped by green technologies, public policies or public attitudes.
This conference is a collaboration of Farm Foundation, and USDA’s Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, Economic Research Service, Rural Development, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the U.S. Forest Service.
The nation’s rapid transition to a bioeconomy has significant implications for agriculture, the food system, rural communities and the global economy. This series of conferences are deisgned to inventory current knowledge, highlight lessons learned to date, identify future possibilities and determine future information needs. These conferences and the products produced from them will provide government, industry, academic and community leaders with objective information and analysis they can use to make more informed decisions related to the bioeconomy in the next decade.
There are at least two more conferences planned by Farm Foundation over the next couple of years to include implications of a global bioeconomy and extension education for a bioeconomy.
I’ll be in St. Louis to cover the events for Domestic Fuel and our sister web site, AgWired.com. See you there!