SIXTH ANNUAL BERKELEY BIOECONOMY CONFERENCE:
THE BIOECONOMY AFTER THE ELECTION
U.C. BERKELEY ALUMNI HOUSE
MARCH 27 AND 28, 2013
MARCH 27
8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
Welcome
Keith Gilless, University of California at Berkeley
David Zilberman, University of California at Berkeley
8:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Session 1: State of Bioeconomy (State of Biofuel)
• Wally Tyner, Purdue, “The Future of Biofuel”
• Justus Wesseler, Technische Universität München, “The Bioeconomy in Europe”
• Luuk van der Wielen, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, “The
Economy of Biobased Products”
• David Zilberman, University of California at Berkeley, “An Economist’s View on
the Bioeconomy”
Break
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Session 2: Brazil and the Challenges of an Expanding Bioindustry
• Marcos Fava Neves, University of São Paulo, Brazil, “Bioethanol in Brazil:
Potential and Reality”
• Marcia Azanha F.D. Moraes, University of São Paulo, Brazil, “Biojet Fuels:
Sustainability Aspects”
• Reese Ewing, Thomson Reuters, Brazil, “Policy, Consolidation and Investment
Trends in Brazilian Biofuels”
• Madhu Khanna, Hector Nunez, and David Zilberman, University of Illinois,
University of Illinois, and University of California at Berkeley, respectively,
“Economic Effects of Fuel Policies in Brazil”
Lunch
1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Session 3: Evolution of Energy Systems
• Joaquim Bento, University of São Paulo, Brazil, “Indirect Land Use of Biofuel:
The Case of Brazil
• Avery Cohn, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, and
University of California at Berkeley, “Agricultural Intensification at the Edge of the
Amazon Rainforest: Evidence from a Spatially Explicit Panel of Double Cropping
in Mato Grosso, Brazil”
2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Roundtable on Brazil
• David Zilberman, Moderator, University of California at Berkeley
• Madhu Khanna, University of Illinois
• Marcos Fava Neves, University of São Paulo, Brazil
• Marcia Azanha F.D. Moraes, University of São Paulo, Brazil
• Reese Ewing, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy
• Joaquim Bento, University of São Paulo, Brazil
• Avery Cohn, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, and
University of California at Berkeley
Break
3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Session 4: Environmental Considerations
• Caroline Taylor, University of California at Berkeley, “Life Cycle of Biofuel”
• Antonio Bento, Cornell, “The Economics of the Life Cycle of Biofuel”
• Jody Endres, University of Illinois, “Forest Sustainability in the Wake of Emerging
Bioenergy Policies”
• Stephen Kaffka, University of California, Davis, “Sustainability Standards,
Certification and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard”
• Heather Youngs, University of California at Berkeley, “Bioenergy and Water”
6:30 p.m.
Dinner for Conference Speakers
7:30 p.m.
Evening Speaker
• Paul Willems, Associate Director, Energy Biosciences Institute, University of
California at Berkeley
MARCH 28
8:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Session 1: Development of Biotechnology
• Carl Pray, Rutgers, “Biotechnology and GMOs in China and India”
• Jose Maria da Silveira, University of Campinas, Brazil, “Cooperation and Conflict
in Public and Private Research Relations on Agriculture Biotechnology in Brazil:
The Case of the Hybrid Maize Seed Industry, GM Cotton, and Transgenic Beans”
• Kyle Emerick, University of California at Berkeley, “Flood-tolerant Rice Reduces
Yield Variability, Differentially Benefitting Socially Disadvantaged Groups in India”
• Abhaya Dandekar, University of California, Davis, “Transgenic Rootstock Based
Management of Bacterial Crown Gall Disease: A Low Profile Entry Point for
GMO Tree and Vine Crops?”
• Huffman, Wally, Iowa State University, “Impacts of Public Corn Research and
Weather on State Average Corn Yields: An Application of Stochastic Frontier
Yield Functions”
Break
10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Session 2: The Bioeconomy Within a Larger Context
• David Zilberman, University of California at Berkeley, “Contract Farming and
Biofuel”
• Siwa Msangi, International Food Policy Research Institute, “Biofuels and
Development: Getting the Timing Right”
• Firas Abu-Sneneh, Colin A. Carter, and Aaron Smith, University of California,
Davis, “Do Gasoline Prices Account for Ethanol’s Lower Energy Content?”
• Gal Hochman and Geoffrey Barrows, Rutgers and University of California at
Berkeley, respectively, “Biofuel and the Economics of Refineries”
Lunch
1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Session 3: The Political Economy of the Bioeconomy
• Steven Sexton, North Carolina State University, “Fracking and Biofuel”
• Gina Waterfield and David Zilberman, University of California at Berkeley, “On
the Willingness to Pay, Ban, and Label Biotechnology”
• David Roland-Holst, University of California at Berkeley, “Employment and the
Bioeconomy”
• Bret Strogen, University of California at Berkeley, “Ethanol Pipelines: An
Opportunity to Save Costs and Greenhouse Gas Emission: Did We Miss the Boat?”
• Hamed Ghoddusi and Jessika Trancik, MIT, “Biofuel Supply Risks and Energy
Security”
Break
3:45 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
Session 4: Alternative Fuels
• Cynthia Lin, University of California, Davis, “An Analysis of the Effects of
Government Subsidies on the Fuel Ethanol Industry: A Structural Econometric
Model”
• Gordon Rausser, University of California at Berkeley, “The Economics of
Alternative Biofuel”
• Blake Simmons, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
“Making Second-generation Biofuel Work”
• Jon Van Gerpen, University of Idaho, “Biodiesel Emissions”
• Nadav Sorek and Johan Philipp Benz, University of California at Berkeley,
“Biomass for Biofuel: How It is Made and How to Break It Down”
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