http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9911 Planet Ark US looks to bio-based products to help farmers
USA: February 26, 2001 WASHINGTON - Bio-based fuels and products will undoubtedly shape the future of American agriculture, but for the young market to enter the mainstream will require significant promotion and funding efforts, industry leaders said on Friday. Within the agriculture industry, converting corn, soybeans and other bio-based goods into products that reduce consumption of natural resources and lessen emissions of greenhouse gases is slowly gaining steam. But a panel of new age bio-product and environmental market experts at the US Department of Agriculture's annual outlook conference near Washington admit that what becomes of the futuristic industry is largely uncertain. "We are simply at the beginning of a new era that could be extremely important to American agriculture," said Marvin Duncan, an economist at the USDA. The evolution of bio-based products and fuels "is like being at the front end of when America learned to fly. But like all major developments, it comes slowly and has many participants," he said. Indeed, early developments hint that bio-based products have a promising future. There are several successful examples already on the market including ethanol blends of gasoline from corn and soybean lubricants used in hydraulic fluids and motor boat engines. Increasing US dependence on alternative fuels and products made from food crops and other agricultural and forest resources was an initiative trumpeted by the Clinton administration. In August 1999, former president Clinton signed an executive order with a goal of tripling the use of bio-based products and bio-energy by 2010. Farmers are being called upon to play a prominent role in the future of American agriculture. One potentially lucrative market for some farmers is the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. The process, called carbon sequestration, occurs when grassy crops and fast-growing trees remove carbon from the air and store it in soil or use it to grow roots, stems and leaves. Farming practices such as not tilling the land before planting can improve the soil and help it retain more carbon, yielding more productive crops. The USDA estimates that the US carbon sequestration market could swell to $5 billion per year by 2035. But for carbon removal to be an option for farmers, they need financial incentives and public acceptance, said Bruce Babcock, carbon sequestration expert at Iowa State University. He urged Congress to create legislation that would pay farmers for setting aside land for carbon sequestration. "There is a lot of uncertainty over carbon sequestration. What we need is what all new technologies need, a poster child to drive it," Babcock said. "We need ways to stimulate demand, otherwise it could be slow going." He added that despite extensive media attention given toward environmental issues such as global warming and greenhouse gases, wooing the public into reducing its carbon dioxide emissions has been largely unsuccessful. To drum up support, and to promote the use of bio-based lubricants, fuels and plastics, research will be necessary to discover new ways of processing and converting these products into materials that are more cost-effective and as efficient as fossil fuels. But with questions swirling over the future of bio-based products, few companies in the agriculture industry are willing to pump millions of dollars into research and development. Barbara Miller, technical director with Dow Chemical Co., says that "biotech is going to be a player" and could be a "disruptive force" in the industry. Unlike its competitors, the Michigan-based chemicals and plastics manufacturer has not sat idle. They have already begun developing products such as polymers - made in part from corn - that are used to construct cast films, rigid containers and paperboard coatings. "We've had some successful experiences with biotechnology already and that gives us a lot of hope. It's opened up market opportunities that could not have been anticipated," Miller said. "It will be disruptive (to the industry), but we want to be a part of the new markets and opportunities that we can't even foresee," she said. Story by Christopher Doering REUTERS NEWS SERVICE Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
