I think Joel Velasco, Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, had the quote of the day here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference.

He said that “carbon is the new agricultural commodity” and that “our incentive is to produce less of it and get paid for it.” So, grow a crop, sell it and maybe earn some carbon credits? Who knows where all that will wind up.

Joel wanted people to know that biofuels can not only help mitigate climate change but build energy security. In Brazil they’ve managed to increase the use of ethanol from sugarcane to where they’ve displaced fifty percent of their liquid gasoline. They don’t have gas stations anymore he says, they have “fuel” stations. He says price is the key to the development and use of ethanol and today ethanol is half the price of gas in Brazil.

You can listen to my interview with Joel here: ff-global-09-velasco.mp3

You can download the interview with this link (mp3).

You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album