USDA Global Conference on Agricultural Biofuels: Research and Economics
Biofuels: challenges and opportunities ahead
Role of USDA Research and Development in the Emerging Bioeconomy
Ghassem R. Asrar, PhD
Deputy Administrator, Agricultural Research Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture
www.ars.usda.gov
Expansion of the bioenergy sector of the global economy is driven by a burgeoning market for renewable fuels and products derived from agricultural materials. In the United States, concerns over the security and reliability of energy supply, compounded by the environmental effects of fossil energy use, the economic costs of importing petroleum, and the opportunity for a renaissance in rural economy, have spurred interest to develop alternative, renewable energy. The production and use of renewable energy and fuel is now a global phenomenon. Countries of disparate size and economies are progressively setting goals to incorporate greater use of renewable bio-derived fuels/energy to offset use of petroleum, primarily for transportation.
The United States Department of Agriculture has significantly increased research, development, and deployment of technology in the area of bioenergy and bio-based products. The Department has responded to numerous policy decisions designed to invigorate bioenergy efforts across the U.S. federal government and the private sector. President Bill Clinton signed the Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000, the first example of dramatic legislative direction in the area of bioenergy. This legislation was followed by the historic Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 by U.S. Congress, the first Farm Bill to include an Energy title which broadened the bioenergy program and established new programs and grants for bioenergy research. In 2006 and 2007 State of the Union Addresses to Americans, President George W. Bush also set ambitious goals for obtaining a significant quantity of the U.S. transportation fuels from bio-based materials in next 10-20 years. The 2007 Farm Bill that is currently under active debate in the U.S. Congress and encompasses these national goals. USDA’s Farm Bill proposal calls for a $500 million dollar Bioenergy and Biobased Products Research Initiative to be included under the Research title of the Bill. Further, there are other energy proposals contained within the Energy, Conservation, and Rural Development titles of this Bill. Clearly USDA is moving forward to address the prospective research needs to support the Renewable Fuels Standard, as outlined in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and the U.S. President’s “20 in 10” goal.
For example, the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Bioenergy and Energy Alternatives National Program was created in 1998 with the mission to develop alternative energy sources through increased use of agricultural materials as feedstocks for biofuels and products, to create jobs and economic activity in America, reduce the Nation's dependence on foreign oil, and improve the environment. The goals of this national program not only support ARS priorities, but strive to address problems of high national priority.
The ARS bioenergy research falls broadly under two categories, Feedstocks and Conversion. The ARS feedstock to fuels research program attempts to cover all crops and agricultural residues which could be converted to fuel, such as, starch crops and grain, perennial grasses, leguminous forage crops, oilseed crops, and energy cane, agricultural wastes, as well as the agronomic management systems and practices required to ensure a sustainable system. ARS scientists are utilizing both traditional breeding and advance genetics and genomic approaches to engineer crops for enhanced bioenergy traits, such as stress tolerance and decreased lignocellulose recalcitrance.
ARS is also actively involved in research to efficiently convert crops and residues to fuels and valuable bioproducts as well as chemical feedstocks. ARS has special, unique expertise and capabilities for biochemical conversion research. ARS research has been responsible for a number of advances in enzymatic conversion of ligno-cellulosics into fermentable sugars and in microbial biocatalysts that efficiently convert mixtures of pentose and hexose sugars into biofuels such as ethanol and butanol as well as co-products.
In contrast, ARS work in thermochemical conversion is focused mainly on applying promising technologies to agricultural systems. Thermochemical conversion of coal into liquid fuels has been successfully done in the U.S. at commercial scales for many years. Research is underway to apply these technologies to biomass feedstocks because these processes can more readily convert a wide variety of biomass and could more than double (relative to biochemical conversion) the amount of fuels obtainable from a ton of biomass. ARS will focus on applying thermochemical technologies for on-or-near-the-farm production of bioenergy, thereby giving farmers the ability to meet their energy/fuel needs and maximize their earnings. By leveraging ARS’ unique competencies in agricultural waste management/treatment, multi-product biorefining, value-added co-products, and integrated farming operations, ARS is uniquely capable of developing technologies that enable on-or-near-the-farm production of bioenergy and bio-based products.
Energy captured from the sun in the form of biomass has tremendous potential to help mitigate effects of carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere, secure America’s energy supply through domestic production, and increase revenues to rural areas. Yet there are significant natural resource challenges associated with increased agricultural production. Increased production will place more demands on soil and water resources. Significant removal of cover crops and agricultural residues for bioenergy production can have potentially deleterious effects on soil carbon content, and increase the effects of wind and water erosion. ARS scientists are engaged in a multi location project to quantify nutrient gain/loss as a function of plan residue management practices. This type of work is critical to the success of the bioeconomy and must be an essential piece of any high volume biomass production system. ARS is also designing the agricultural production systems of the future where crops for food, feed, and fuel, are integrated at the landscape level with water remediation and reuse technology and nutrient management systems. While these challenges are considerable, they are also researchable and can be solved. ARS scientists, working with other U.S. federal agencies, the private sector and international partners, look forward to developing the technologies required to commercialize a sustainable bioeconomy for the 21st Century.
Ghassem R. Asrar
Biography
Dr. Ghassem R. Asrar is currently the Deputy Administrator for Natural Resources and Agricultural Systems with Agricultural Research Service (ARS), of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was appointed to this position in January 2006 after 20 years of service with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Dr. Asrar is responsible for ARS research programs focused on developing scientific knowledge and technology that ensure safe and affordable food, feed, fiber, and renewable energy supplies while enhancing the environment and quality of life for producers and consumers.
Dr. Asrar served as the chief scientist for the Earth Observing System in the Office of Earth Science at NASA Headquarters prior to being named as the Associate Administrator for Earth Science in 1998. While in his position of chief scientist, he led an international team developing the scientific priorities and measurements to be obtained from a series of advanced Earth-orbiting satellites that promise fundamental new insights into the connections between Earth’s land, oceans, atmosphere, ice and life. He also established the NASA Earth System Science graduate fellowship and New Investigators Programs to support training the next generation of Earth scientists and engineers, which have graduated about 1000 recipients to date.
During his tenure as Associate Administrator, NASA's program has achieved successful launches of more than 15 Earth observing research satellites and guided the development of a comprehensive data and information system to manage record amount of useful information resulting from these satellites and serving more than 2 million users each year.
Dr. Asrar is the recipient of U.S. Presidential Distinguished Executive Award (2002), an elected Fellow of American Meteorological Society (2001), and elected fellow of IEEE (2000). He has received numerous awards and honors, including the NASA Exceptional Performance Award in 1997, the AIAA Goddard Memorial Lecture Medal in 1998, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, 1999, NASA Distinguished Leadership Medal, 2000, and the Space System Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2006.
Dr. Asrar earned graduate degrees in civil engineering and environmental physics from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. He conducted research and trained undergraduate and post-graduate students for nine years in academia prior to joining NASA as a senior scientist in 1987. He has authored more than 85 peer-reviewed scientific papers, primarily in the fields of biosphere and atmosphere studies, and has edited several remote-sensing reference books.
EC Research Priorities in the Area of Bio-Based Products
Dr. Laurent Bochereau
Head of Science, Technology and Education Section
Delegation of the European Commission to the US
www.eurunion.org/policyareas/science.htm
For more than a decade, the European Commission has encouraged research activities related to the development of sustainable bio-based products. This has led to a wide range of applications from improved crops to innovative products including novel bioprocesses.
During the recent years, under the auspices of the EC-US Task-Force for Biotechnology research (http://ec.europa.eu/research/biotechnology/ec-us), one specific EC funded project, EPOBIO (www.epobio.net) has been dedicated to the identification of scientific and technological challenges of mutual interest from a transatlantic perspective and the promotion of promising transatlantic research activities.
The European Commission’s seventh framework for research and technological development gives high priority to bio-based products within the priority theme entitled “food. Agriculture and Biotechnology”.
This theme aims at promoting the establishment of a strong European Knowledge-based bio-economy (http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/kbbe). It will support the development of new knowledge to increase productivity and competitiveness and improve quality of life while protecting the environment and social values.
The European Commission’s research programmes encourage international cooperation and offer many opportunities for partnerships with research entities from all over the world.
Laurent Bochereau
Biography
Laurent Bochereau is responsible for the "science, technology and education" section at the Delegation of the European Commission in Washington DC. He gained a Laureate from the Ecole Polytechnique and ENGREF in Paris, a Master's degree from the University of California and a PhD from the University of Paris VI. After spending several years working as a research project leader at CEMAGREF, he served two years in the French Ministry for Research. He joined the European Commission in 1995where heworked several years as assistant to the Director for Life Sciences and then as Head of Unit with responsibilities for agriculture, forestry, agro-industryand food safety research.
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Kepler Euclides Filho
Biography
Kepler Euclides Filho earned BS a degree in Agronomy at the Federal University of Viçosa, where he also completed a Master's degree in Animal Breeding. He earned a Ph.D. in animal improvement from the University of Florida, in the United States, in 1984. He was appointed to Embrapa since 1975, where he played a important role on the establishment of Embrapa Beef Cattle (Campo Grande -MS). Dr Kepler also has leadership of Embrapa’s meat quality program.
He contributed significantly to research in animal breeding using crosses of European races with Nelore, which had strong impact on the central region of Brazil.
He has had an impressive participation on technical, scientific activities as follows:
· President of the Foundation of Support Research, Development, Education, Science and Technology of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul;
· President of the Brazilian Society of Animal Improvement; Embrapa Executive Secretary of Regional Council;
· General Director of Embrapa Beef Cattle from November 2003 to January 2005.
He is also the Executive Secretary of the Beef Commission from The Ministry of the Agriculture and Food Supply; Scientific Reviewer four journals; and a consultant to institutions, such as CNPq, Fapesp and Finep.