Michigan Ag News Headlines Alaternative Energy Experts on Hand for Bio Econference Michigan Ag Connection - 11/19/2009 Bioenergy and other aspects of a new bioeconomy are generating interest and enthusiasm among public and private entities and individuals. Three leaders in the field will be on hand Dec. 1 at the Hannah Community Center to discuss the status and potential for bioenergy related businesses at the 2009 Bio eConference, "Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability." Participants who attend the conference, which begins at 9 a.m., can interact with speakers from Michigan State University (MSU) and Pennsylvania State University (PSU). These speakers will focus on farm-scale biomass production and developing supply chains and regional preprocessing centers. Bruce Dale, MSU professor and associate director of the Office of Biobased Technologies; and Satish Joshi, director of the Environmental Economics and Policy Program and associate professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics; will offer presentations at the Hannah Center. They will be joined by Tom Richard, PSU director of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment and associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering. Twelve host sites will share content through high-speed communication systems to promote agriculturally based sustainable solutions to global climate change and energy supply. The conference will provide an opportunity for participants and experts to discuss biomass production issues, federal programs and policies, and economics of producing biomass for energy. Other session topics will focus on net greenhouse gas emission from biofuel systems, non-traditional feedstocks, advances in biofuels, and bioenergy economic and policy issues. It will include prerecorded remarks from Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. The conference will run from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The registration cost is $60 per person for those attending live, which gives participants the added value of networking and access to a special morning presentation about biomass procurement. For those who plan to view it from a personal computer in another location, the cost is $50. Visit http://web2.msue.msu.edu/bioeconomy/ or call MSU Agriculture and Natural Resources Conference Services at 517-353-3175 to register for the live conference. If participating online from a personal computer, visit http://www.bioeconomyconference.org/ and click on registration options. For more information, contact Dennis Pennington at 269-671-2412 or Mark Seamon, MSU Extension bioeconomy innovation counselor, at 989-758-2500. The Bio eConference is the result of a 12-state partnership between Iowa State University, Kansas State University, MSU, North Dakota State University, The Ohio State University, Purdue University, South Dakota State University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Missouri, the University of Nebraska, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Wyoming. More from this state at: Michigan Ag Connection Copyright © 2010 - USAgNet.com. All Rights Reserved.