The first ever Land Use Conference is fast approaching and you don’t want to miss it. Hosted by the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), the conference will be in St. Louis on August 25-26th. This is perfect for those people in agriculture who are interested to learn how indirect land use policy will affect their businesses. In addition, academics and people in the biofuels industry should attend.

I had the opportunity to chat with Darrin Ihnen, who will be the NCGA president on October 1, 2009, about why there is such a need for this conference.

“The goal is to take a closer look at land use science, the models involved in individual emission factors and we’re going to have quite a distinguished panel of speakers and academics there. These will represent each of the models that EPA used to measure the carbon footprint,” said Ihnen. “So our goal is to get some good sound science to see what the carbon footprint is, and what the upcoming legislation could have on the effect on farmers across the country.”

Once the conference has concluded, NCGA will take the recommendations to the EPA and other groups to consider when creating policy.

If you haven’t registered already, it’s not too late.  You can register online at NCGA’s website. The cost is $250 per person.

You can listen to my interview with Darrin here: