Biotechnology is key to meet increasing food

increasing food and alternative fuels demand

By Jerry W. Kram 
There can be room for both food and fuel production, according to many of the speakers at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing. The annual conference, held in Chicago April 27 through April 30, attracted more than 1200 scientists, business leaders, and government officials. The message from the four-day event was that biotechnology is the key to meeting the rising worldwide demand for food and alternative fuels – by boosting agricultural production, producing biofuels from energy crops, and increasing the efficiency of biofuel production.

Jeff Broin, founder and CEO of Poet LLC, said biofuels provide incentives to increase agricultural production around the world, speaking at the April 29 plenary lunch. “Farmers – in addition to harvesting a crop for food and fuel – can harvest biomass,” he said. “We see advancements that are significantly increasing productivity and yields. And farmland around the world that has sat unproductive for decades – and I’m not talking about rainforests – can now be used for food and fuel.”

Biotechnology can help increase agricultural production throughout the world without expanding land use, said Richard Hamilton, president and CEO of Ceres Inc. Energy crops can already play a part in low-carbon biofuel production in the United States. “A lot of people have had the attitude that dedicated energy crops are something that happens way in the future,” he said. “Energy crops are not some distant fantasy, they’re here today. We really are ready not only from the biorefinery side, but also from the feedstock side, to move this technology toward commercialization.”