I got my first opportunity to meet our Acting Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner today. He was the luncheon keynote speaker at the Cellulosic Ethanol Summit which is underway in Washington, DC. He addressed the group on the subject of what agriculture’s role is in building a national cellulosic industry. I caught up to him outside as he was leaving and asked him what his department is doing in this regard.

He says that USDA has several ongoing research projects involving enzymes and the plants that will be needed to use in the production of cellulosic ethanol. However, he says more needs to be done. That’s why the Administration has asked for $1 1/2 billion more in the proposed farm bill for new research in this area. He says the House has supported it and they’re hoping the Senate will too.

You can listen to my interview with Acting Secretary Conner here: cellulosic-summit-07-conner.mp3

I’ve got more items to post from the event but the venue they have us in has no internet access. In fact, I’ve had to go upstairs and outside to make a mobile phone call. You could say I’ve been having internet access withdrawal all day. I just ran back to my hotel to get this posted and it’s time to hurry back to the end of the day reception. I really hope more conference organizers will take this into account when planning a facility. It’s not just us media types that want it.