Friday, March 20, 2009

Transition to a Bioeconomy series continues with trade and policy conference in D.C. March 30-31

The fourth conference in Farm Foundation's Transition to a Bioeconomy" series is titled "Global Trade and Policy Issues" and will be held at the Westin City Center in Washington March 30-31. Industry leaders, government staffers and academics will discuss global energy markets, relationships between food systems and energy policies, the global impacts of biofuels policies, and trade in energy technologies.

Details of the conference program, as well as registration and hotel information, are available on the foundation's Web site. Registration can be completed online or by printing out a registration form. The conference is organized by USDA's Office of Energy Policy and New Uses and its Economic Research Service.

"The rapid transition to a bioeconomy has significant implications for agriculture, the food system, rural communities and the global economy," the foundation notes. Presentations and proceedings are available from the three previous conferences: Integration of Agriculture and Energy Systems; Risk Management,Infrastructure and Industry Evolution; and Environmental and Rural Development Impacts. The last conference in the series, to focus on tools for Extension, will be June 30-July 1 in Little Rock.

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