Des Moines Register
12-02-06
Keep pushing to lead bioeconomy revolution
Position Iowa for transformational change.
When considering the role of renewable resources in Iowa's future, a word to
keep in mind is "transformational."
It ran through the discussion at this week's Call to Action Summit at Iowa State
University. A who's who of Iowa scientists, economists and business,
government and agricultural leaders gathered at the request of ISU President
Gregory Geoffroy to talk about what this state needs to do to maintain its
leadership in the emerging bioeconomy.
The transformational power of a bioeconomy was recognized by virtually every
speaker. The thinkers and leaders attending the summit know that raising crops
from which to make fuels and plastics, not just food, will transform Iowa.
There will be new crops, new kinds of machinery, new logistical and
transportation requirements. As ISU energy expert Robert Brown notes,
agriculture will have to be reinvented. Change will be as profound as that
wrought by the advent of the tractor and hybrid seed.
There will be unprecedented opportunities for rural economic development,
because the refineries processing plant material into fuels and other products will
be widely dispersed around the state, close to the raw materials.
Iowa Farm Bureau President Craig Lang foresees change as dramatic as
anything since the industrial revolution. He sees the Iowa landscape transformed,
and rural and urban Iowa united in a bioeconomy.
In a bioeconomy, according to ISU's definition, the basic building blocks for
industry and the raw materials for energy are derived from renewable, plantbased resources.
Iowa is the natural place to begin the national transition to a bioeconomy. We're
in the heart of the continent's greatest plant-producing region and centrally
located in the nation. We also have significant renewable energy from wind. We
already have a big lead in the production of ethanol, the first major renewable
fuel.
But, as ISU's Brown pointed out, ethanol is not the ultimate goal. Ethanol is a
pathway to the future that will likely see newer biofuels as well as a host of
industrial applications for plant-based materials.
If Iowa puts all its eggs in the ethanol basket, the state will lose its leadership in
the transformation.
The summit discussion was about how to maintain leadership as the technology
moves beyond corn-based ethanol. The single biggest requirement is obvious:
research, research, research.
Every incremental advance in the bioeconomy depends on breakthroughs on
problems such as making ethanol from cellulose, instead of grain, finding new
plant varieties, developing the right cultivation methods, inventing new tillage
equipment, improving processing and developing new products from plant
materials. There's work for agronomists, geneticists, conservationists, chemical
engineers, mechanical engineers, biochemists, industrial engineers - just about
every scientific and engineering discipline.
Then, too, the transformation will require major infrastructure investments to
move materials from farm to factory to market, and education will need to focus
more on science to develop the right work force.
Geoffroy said recommendations from the summit will be compiled and published
within a few weeks. Gov.-elect Chet Culver and the incoming Legislature should
read them carefully and act on them wholeheartedly.
The opportunity to make transformational change comes along only once or so in
a century. Many other states are eager to take the lead if Iowa doesn't.