It will be at least a decade before technological breakthroughs allow ethanol fuel to be produced commercially from farm and forest waste like wood chips, switchgrass and corn stalks, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee said on Tuesday.
The Bush administration has a much quicker 2012 target date for moving U.S. ethanol production away from its current main feedstock -- corn -- to cheaper agricultural waste and other so-called cellulosic sources.
However, Rep. Collin Peterson said that goal probably won't be met.
"I think that is optimistic. I think we are 10 years away," said Peterson, speaking at the Reuters Global Agriculture and Biofuel Summit....MORE
Rep. Peterson is from Minnesota.
Minnesota is the #4 producer of corn and the #4 producer of ethanol.
