Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack addressed the 2012 Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference, presented by Biofuels Digest, Tuesday in Washington D.C. and announced an upcoming Advanced Biofuels Industry Roundtable to be held next month.

Vilsack said the Roundtable will be a joint effort between USDA, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Navy and will be held on May 18 “as the next step in the partnership with the private sector to produce advanced biofuels to power military and commercial transportation.”

“Advanced biofuels are a key component of President Obama’s ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy to limit the impact that foreign oil has on our economy and take control of our energy future,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “By bringing together farmers, scientists, and the private sector to produce fuel for the American military, we can help spur an industry producing biofuels from non-food feedstocks all over the nation, strengthen our middle class, and help create an economy built to last.”

The roundtable will focus on efforts to accelerate the production of bio-based fuels for military and commercial purposes and will address the next steps for the production of aviation biofuels and marine diesel. Topics will include production, distribution and contracting, and best practices. This roundtable follows a “match making” event hosted last week at USDA headquarters to promote connections between agricultural producers of energy feedstocks, and biorefineries.

The conference this week in Washington has the theme of “Go Big, Stay Strong” and features dozens of top officials from advanced biofuels companies, as well as a special full-day session Thursday on Military & Aviation Biofuels.