Newswise — South Dakota State University will host one of the nation's premier biofuels conferences May 22-24 in the Volstorff Ballroom in the student Union.
"Agricultural Biofuels: Technology, Sustainability and Profitability" will bring together experts from around the country to talk about impact and future development of biofuels. The conference is in cooperation with the National Agricultural Biotechnology Council (NABC). The council has sponsored public meetings about the safe, ethical and successful development of agricultural biotechnology products since 1988.
"This conference will examine the central questions of agricultural biotechnology in a way that spans most interest groups," according to William Gibbons, SDSU professor of biology and microbiology and conference chair.
"It provides an open forum for people with different interests and concerns to come together to speak, listen and learn from meaningful dialogue on the potential impacts of agricultural biotechnology."
Conference speakers include Suzanne Hunt, Worldwatch Institute; Steve Banz, Union of Concerned Scientists; Bill Richards, 25 x 25 Coalition; Wallace Tyner, Purdue University; Roger Wyse, Burrill & Company; Mark Kraeger, Prime BioSolutions; Anna Rath, Ceres; and Maria Wellish, CANMET Energy Technology Center.
David Ramey, Environmental Energy, Inc., will be at the conference with his unmodified 1992 Buick that he drove 10,000 miles cross country from his home in Ohio without using a drop of gasoline. The vehicle used butanol produced by Ramey's own patented process.
Tours will be given of area production plants including Biodigester, Milbank; VeraSun Energy ethanol plant in Aurora; and SD Soybean Processors biodiesel plant in Volga. The keynote address will be delivered Tuesday evening by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Governor Mike Rounds will deliver the luncheon keynote Wednesday.
South Dakota State University and other land grant universities are forming the research and teaching cornerstone of the booming biofuels industry.
SDSU's $7.5 million Seed Technology Center will focus on the development of seed traits needed in biofuels crops.
SDSU's Center of Excellence for Drought Tolerance Biotechnology is becoming the nation's premier public research center on applied crop genomics with an emphasis on drought, temperature and environmental stresses, working to stabilize feedstock supplies for agricultural and biorenewable industries.
SDSU is moving other biofuels research and education programs through the planning and review stages.
"Our goal is that these biofuels efforts will lead to new technologies and greater sustainability for the biofuels industry," according to John Kirby, director of the SDSU agricultural experiment station.
Conference registration is $450. Student registration is $100. Media access comes at no cost with credentials received from NABC media coordinator, Emery Tschetter.
Registration can be made on-line at http://nabc19.sdstate.org.
The National Agricultural Biotechnology Council is a not-for-profit consortium comprised of governmental agencies and 36 leading agricultural research and teaching universities, including South Dakota State University.
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