A national conference on bio-energy is underway today at Iowa State University. Organizers say the development of bio-based products could change Iowa’s economy in the decades ahead, though our farmers would continue to grow food for the world. A federal order calls for tripling the nation’s use of bio-based products by 2010 to further reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Denice Swink, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U-S Department of Energy, says the new focus on bio-products and bio-energy is similar to the effort which led man to the moon. Swink says ethanol and soy diesel are two examples of bio-fuels that are helping Iowa farmers diversify how their corn and soybeans are used.
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