Washington, DC
August 18, 2008
Sorghum's potential as a biofuel
crop will be explored at the International Workshop on Sorghum
for Biofuels which begins in Houston, Texas, tomorrow. More than
100 international experts from government, academia, the private
sector and the agricultural community are expected to
participate in the conference.
U.S. co-sponsors of the event include the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) Research, Education and Economics (REE) mission area,
Texas A&M University (TAMU),
and the National Sorghum
Producers (NSP). Other co-sponsors include Brazil’s
Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa
Agropecuaria (EMBRAPA), the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT), and
Tsinghua University, which is located in the Peoples’
Republic of China.
“U.S. consumers know that we need to develop new sources of
energy to meet our transportation needs,” said REE Under
Secretary Gale A. Buchanan. “Growing sorghum for bioenergy
production can give us a source of renewable--and
profitable--energy right here at home.”
Sorghum is attracting greater interest as a bioenergy crop
because it is tolerant of drought and grows well on marginal
lands not suitable for most other crops. It produces high yields
even after an abbreviated production cycle, and requires minimal
amounts of fertilizer and irrigation. Scientists at the
Agricultural Research Service (ARS), a USDA scientific research
agency, are part of the international research community
studying sorghum genetics and genomics, production systems and
conversion processes to optimize biofuel production.
At the workshop, attendees will share information about key
scientific advances supporting the economically viable and
environmentally sustainable production and utilization of
sorghum as a bioenergy crop. Participants also will be able to
visit TAMU and learn more about ongoing research on bioenergy
feedstock and development. Site visits also will be available to
Jennings, La., where Verenium Corporation has broken ground for
a 1.4-million-gallon-per-year demonstration cellulosic ethanol
facility, the first of its kind in the United States.
Opening remarks will be given by Mark Hussey, interim vice
chancellor and dean of the TAMU College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences, and also director of Texas AgriLife Research; USDA
Under Secretary Buchanan, and Liu Yanhau, vice minister of the
People’s Republic of China Ministry of Science and Technology.
Other speakers on the agenda include representatives from the
NSP, USDA, ARS, the U.S. Department of Energy and the TAMU
Agricultural and Food Policy Center. |
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