Plant oil production is currently almost entirely directed to human food uses. Yet these oils also
represent the most prospective renewable resource for production of numerous industrial products,
such as transportation fuels, industrial chemicals and polymers, which are currently derived from
petroleum. A major challenge, and opportunity, is to dramatically increase global production of
plant oils to not only meet increasing food demand for a burgeoning world population, but also to
provide sufficient surplus to enable use as renewable industrial oils. This challenge is very important
for the oilseed industry, and is the subject of the upcoming AAOCS meeting biennial meeting:-
Food vs. Fuel Dilemma
Program Highlights
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Julian Cribb – “Food and Fuel Forever”
Heather Bone – “A sustainable Australian biofuels industry – challenges, opportunities and
the elephants in the room”
Nick Goddard – “Australian Oilseeds industry present production and future potential”
Scientific contributions are welcome for this meeting (info here)
Registration for AAOCS members for the biennial meeting is $350
The biennial AAOCS meeting: “Fats & Oils – The Food vs. Fuel Dilemma”, Noah’s on the Beach, 69th November, Newcastle, NSW. This event includes a day-long Deep Frying Workshop (6th Nov) and
an Omega-3 Symposium (7th Nov) covering the latest news on health benefits, sources, and future
R&D needs for long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids.
More information on the conference and deep frying workshop here
Dr Matt Miller
Secretary
Matt.Miller@plantandfood.co.nz
Omega-3 Symposium in
collaboration with:
Dr Karen Murphy
President
Karen.Murphy@unisa.edu.au
Julian Cribb is an author, journalist, editor and
science communicator. He is principal of Julian Cribb
& Associates who provide specialist consultancy in
the communication of science, agriculture, food,
mining, energy and the environment. His career
includes appointments as newspaper editor,
scientific editor for The Australian newspaper,
director of national awareness for CSIRO, member of
numerous scientific boards and advisory panels, and
president of national professional bodies for
agricultural journalism and science communication.
His published work includes over 8000 articles, 3000 media releases and eight books. He has received 32
awards for journalism. His internationally-acclaimed book, The Coming Famine explores the question of
whether we can feed humanity through the mid-century peak in numbers and food demand.
Heather Bone is the Manager of Sustainability for Downer EDI
Limited (Downer), a leading provider of engineering and
infrastructure management services. Heather is responsible for a
broad array of innovations and projects, initiatives and achievements,
including increasing Downer’s use of alternative fuels and reducing
the GHG emissions intensity of the sites on which Downer operates.
Heather has worked for nearly twenty years in environmental and
sustainable development law, commercial, business development and
marketing roles in mines and energy, transport and logistics in
Australia, Asia, Africa and the Americas and has worked extensively
with numerous government departments, industry associations,
scientific bodies, OEMs and international organisations. Prior to
joining Downer, Heather was the CEO of the Biofuels Association of
Australia, the peak industry body for the Australian biofuels industry, representing ethanol and biodiesel
producers, feedstock suppliers, technology providers, independent and major oil companies, equipment
manufacturers, mining and construction companies and others. Heather is currently the Chair of the Mirror
Committee of Standards Australia that is developing sustainability
standards with ISO.
Nick Goddard is the Executive Director of the Australian Oilseeds
Federation (AOF). The Australian Oilseeds Federation in the peak industry
body for the oilseeds industry, representing all players along the value
chain, from seed breeders, and growers, through to processors, exporters
and end users of both oil and meal. Nick has had a long and successful
career in the food industry, working for the end-user portion of the oils
value chain, with companies such as Goodman Fielder and Unilever. Nick
draws on his end-user and consumer knowledge in bringing a ‘market
driven’ approach to the oilseed value chain. Recently, Nick has been a panel
member of the Blewitt Review of Food Labelling; a member of the DAFF
Ministerial Task Force on Export Certification Reforms and is currently a member of the DAFF Grains Export
Industry Consultative Committee. Nick also chairs the Food and Nutrition Committee of the National Heart
Foundation. Nick holds a B.Comm (Marketing), an MBA and a Grad.Dip in Rural Science, is based in Sydney,
and married with 2 children.