A Competition to Promote Forward-Thinking and Leadership in Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture and Forestry, and Other Institutions of Higher Learning
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in cooperation with the 25x’25 Alliance, has recently announced The Grand Challenge, a competition intended to support academic institutions as they assume leadership in achieving solutions to issues associated with energy supply and consumption. The competition provides an opportunity for agricultural and forestry colleges and other institutions of higher learning to share their vision for how they will contribute to achieving the goal of the 25x’25 Alliance:
“By the year 2025, America’s farms, ranches and forests will provide 25 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States, while continuing to produce safe, abundant and affordable food, feed and fiber.”
Institutions are presenting their vision of U.S. agriculture and/or forestry’s contribution to the energy economy in 2017, the roles they intend to create for themselves in that environment, and how those roles will contribute to meeting the 25x’25 goal through achievements in four areas:
- Increasing the production of renewable energy and alternative fuels;
- Delivering that energy to consumers;
- Meeting consumer demand; and
- Enhancing sustainability, conservation and energy efficiency
Grand Challenge Sponsors are: The Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the 25x’25 Alliance, a broad alliance of agricultural, energy, environmental, business and labor groups.
Fifteen winners will be invited to present their visions during the REE Bio Energy Awareness Days II in Washington, DC, on June 19 – 22, 2008. Specifically, the winners will have the opportunity to exhibit at the Whitten Building site for BEAD II, June 19 and 20, with a reception honoring them from 3:00 to 5:00 pm on June 20, 2008. These fifteen will include up to two winners from each of the four USDA geographic regions, two winners from the 1890 land-grant colleges, and five ‘at-large’ winners that can be from any eligible college or university. Participants will be judged on the basis of a paper, not to exceed 10 pages, outlining their vision. A team of judges from REE and the 25×25 Alliance will judge these papers.
Together with Alabama A&M University and Tuskeegee University, Auburn University submitted an entry for the Grand Challenge titled, Partnerships: The Pathway to a Vibrant Bioeconomy for Alabama.
Following is the executive summary:
Partnerships: The Pathway to a Vibrant Bioeconomy for Alabama
Executive Summary
Alabama and its alliance of land grant institutions and other research partners are positioned to be national leaders inbioenergy and bioproducts education, research, extension and outreach. Each of the three land-grant universities in Alabama—Auburn University, Alabama A&M University, and Tuskegee University—has a rich past and an exciting future forconducting programs that are directed at utilizing our natural resources for energy and value-added products. This document outlines a comprehensive plan for education, research and development, extension and implementation activities conducted by an alliance composed of these universities with external partners that will lead to the creation of bioenergy and bioproducts that will help Alabama and the nation reach the energy goals outlined by the President and the 25x’25 initiative. The multidisciplinary programs at each of the three land-grant institutions are working in concert in the following major areas: Auburn University emphasizes utilization of biomass resources for conversion to liquid fuels, electrical power, heat, and other higher-value products; Alabama A&M University emphasizes oilseed crop production; and Tuskegee University emphasizes starch crop production. Moreover, two major federal government research units: the USDA ARS National Soil Dynamics Laboratory and the USDA Forest Service Forest Operations Research Unit of the Southern Research Station; and the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries and its Center for Alternative Fuels, also are integral research partners in the alliance in the areas of agricultural and forest production systems. This comprehensive plan outlines a vision, guiding principles, program activities, and necessary steps to create a bioeconomy in Alabama that will help meet and exceed the President’s goals for 2017 as well as the goals set out in the 25x’25 initiative by producing as much as 2.5 billion gallons per year of liquid fuels, offsetting as much as 35% of the state’s electrical power needs, reducing net greenhouse gas emissions, and creating thousands of jobs for Alabama citizens.
To read Partnerships: The Pathway to a Vibrant Bioeconomy for Alabama in its entirety, click here for full text.
