Agriculture and Energy Commentary Released

Newswise — The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) will be releasing a new CAST Commentary, Convergence of Agriculture and Energy: Implications for Research and Policy, as part of the joint annual meetings of the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America in Indianapolis, Indiana on Tuesday November 14, 2006. The rollout will take place from 1:00 to 2:00 pm in Room 117 of the Indiana Convention Center.

Access to an adequate energy supply at reasonable cost is crucial for sustained economic growth. Unfortunately, high petroleum prices and the uncertainty of dependence on imports from politically unstable regions decrease the reliability of U.S. energy supplies and hinder economic development. Although biofuels have been identified as an important component of the U.S strategy to decrease dependence on imported oil, the ability to sustain a rapid expansion of biofuel production capacity raises new research and policy issues. This new CAST Commentary seeks to identify the most critical of these issues to help inform the policy development process. The goal is to enhance the long-term economic and environmental viability of the biofuel industry and its positive impact on agriculture, rural communities, and national security.

"Because grain-based ethanol is currently the USA's only major source of biofuels, and because the magnitude of increase in grain-ethanol production is expected to have a large impact on commodity prices, agricultural profitability, and global food security, this Commentary focuses on the key issues concerning corn-based ethanol production systems over the next 5 to 10 years," says Task Force Chair Dr. Kenneth G. Cassman, Director of the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. "Much of the discussion also is relevant to fostering development and sustainability of other biofuels systems, including ethanol from sugar crops and ligno-cellulosic biomass, and biodiesel from oilseed crops."

Convergence of Agriculture and Energy: Implications for Research and Policy covers several critical questions, including: How much corn-ethanol needs to be produced? Can enough corn be produced for food, feed, and fuel? Can all coproducts be used? What are the environmental impacts of grain-ethanol systems? What are the economic impacts on rural development? and What are the research and policy implications of an expanded grain-ethanol industry?

"As the United States moves to replace volatile oil energy supplies with agricultural commodities, it is vital that decision makers and the general public be aware of the many possibilities as well as the 'small print' behind such decisions," concludes CAST Executive Vice President John M. Bonner. "Providing a balanced evaluation of pertinent agricultural and technology issues is CAST's long-time commitment, and we are pleased to release this latest Commentary as a source of science-based information for the current discussion."

The full text of Convergence of Agriculture and Energy: Implications for Research and Policy (CAST Commentary QTA 2006-3) will be available online without charge beginning November 14, 2006 at the CAST website (www.cast-science.org), along with many of CAST's other scientific publications. CAST is an international consortium of 38 scientific and professional societies. It assembles, interprets, and communicates credible science-based information regionally, nationally, and internationally to legislators, regulators, policymakers, the media, the private sector, and the public.

Members of the media are invited to attend the rollout of the commentary as well as the Annual Meetings' full scientific program throughout the week. The Annual Meetings are held Nov. 12-16 in Indianapolis at the Indiana Convention Center. Thousands of scientists from around the world will be in attendance, presenting papers on such topics as climate change, urban planning, crop production, hazardous waste, human health, bio-energy, and more. The exciting program, including searching the schedule for sessions by keyword, author, and affiliation is online at: http://www.acsmeetings.org.