The Iowa Learning Farms conservation webinar taking place Dec. 15 at noon will feature Tom Richard, professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Penn State University. Richard, who is also director of Penn State's Institutes for Energy and the Environment, will draw on his expertise in engineering science within microbial and agricultural systems, development of market-based strategies for more sustainable agriculture and the emerging bio-based economy, to discuss concepts and strategies that frame the battlefront with climate change.
Iowa Learning Farms is part of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and is based in Ames.
In the webinar, "Bioeconomy Solutions for the 21st Century," Richard will look at the fundamental process of photosynthesis that has been removing tens of gigatons of CO2 from Earth's atmosphere each year for more than 3 billion years, and how it serves as the foundation to life-sustaining food and energy production. Participants will also learn how regenerative agriculture can help produce the renewable natural gas, biomaterials and ecosystem carbon storage needed to solve the climate challenge. Richard will also highlight the potential to dramatically expand food, fiber and energy industries to a scale that will create a new trillion-dollar bioeconomy.
"In a world with too much CO2 already in the atmosphere and more accumulating every year, reversing climate change requires rapid development of industries that remove and use CO2 on a gigaton scale," said Richard. "In the coming decades agriculture will form the foundation of a bioeconomy that will not only continue to sustain life but will also slow or potentially reverse the atmospheric CO2 problem that threatens us all."
Participants in Iowa Learning Farms Conservation Webinars are encouraged to ask questions of the presenters. People from all backgrounds and areas of interest are encouraged to join.
To participate in the live webinar, shortly before noon CST Dec. 15:
Click this URL, or type this web address into your internet browser: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/364284172.
Or, go to https://iastate.zoom.us/join and enter meeting ID 364-284-172.
Or, join from a dial-in phone line by dialing +1 312-626-6799 or +1 646-876-9923 with meeting ID 364 284 172.
The webinar will also be recorded and archived on the ILF website, so that it can be watched at any time.
A Certified Crop Adviser board-approved continuing education unit has been applied for. Those who participate in the live webinar are eligible. Information about how to apply to receive the CEU will be provided at the end of the live webinar.
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