Supporting Inland California’s Bioeconomy through Innovation and Development September 9, 2024 Introduction
California’s Great Central Valley and Inland Empire are indispensable segments of the state, national and global food systems. But the long-term viability of the state’s agricultural economy is threatened by a range of human and environmental factors, including dwindling groundwater, climate change, labor shortages, and extreme socio-economic inequality. Absent prompt and effective responses, these stresses will imperil the California’s agricultural preeminence....
Professor,Department of Agricultural and Resources Economics
BioEconomy
David Roland-Holst is a Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resources Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has extensive research experience in economics related to environment, development, agriculture, and international trade, authoring six books and over 100 articles and chapters in professional journals and books. Professor Roland-Holst has served in several academic posts in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He also conducted research in over 40 countries, working with many public institutions including a variety of Federal and state agencies, the...
Professor and Robinson Chair of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
BioEconomy
David Zilberman, Wolf prize Laureate, is Professor and Robinson Chair of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Professor Zysman has written has extensively on European and Japanese policy and corporate strategy; his interests also include comparative politics, Western European politics, and political economy. Professor Zysman's publications include The Highest Stakes: The Economic Foundations of the Next Security System (Oxford University Press, 1992), Manufacturing Matters: The Myth of the Post-Industrial Economy (Basic Books, 1987), and Governments, Markets, and Growth: Finance and the Politics of Industrial Change (Cornell University Press, 1983).
This paper explores the potential for a transition toward a bio-economy. It aims to answer how places and governments might maintain prosperity and well-being while supporting the development of a bio-economy. The bio-economy will utilize renewable natural resources with advanced technologies, life science, digitization, artificial intelligence, and prevision systems to produce food and fiber and recycle and reduce waste. This paper discusses the bioeconomy in a historical context. It addresses the techno-economic and political challenges in the transition to the bio-economy. By analyzing...
California is pursuing ambitious climate goals that include significant reductions in the state’s annual C02 emissions. Decarbonizing energy production is a core component of that strategy, and while the share of renewable electric power is increasing, the transport sector energy is still dominated by fossil fuels. California currently produces an annual flow of more than 50 million metric tons (MMT) of waste biomass per year (Figure 1), the volume of which is rapidly accelerating because of efforts to contain the state’s wildfire emergency. A number of important bioenergy innovations can...
