Editor's Note

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No matter who in the biodiesel industry I talked to in January, the same question inevitably came up: "Will you be at the National Biodiesel Conference?"

My answer each time was, "Absolutely. Let's find time to talk down there." After a couple of weeks of telling people this, I started to realize that I'd have a lot of people to track down in a very short period of time when I got to Ft. Lauderdale. Maybe it's time for a BlackBerry.

Seriously, that's what these conferences are all about-doing as much as you possibly can in a few short days. Whether it's renewable fuels, farming, oleochemicals or petroleum, the events we attend in the biodiesel industry are as much about doing business and making new contacts as they are about becoming informed. Of course, these meetings also provide great opportunities to catch up with friends, enjoy the weather (if we're lucky) and have fun.

This particular issue of Biodiesel Magazine is being distributed at the 2005 National Biodiesel Conference. Maybe you're there now reading it. This year, the magazine is 24 pages heavier than it was when the publication was introduced at the first National Biodiesel Conference in 2004. In a way, the magazine and the conference are growing up together. There is something very promising about that.

Speaking of growing up, the biodiesel industry itself has gone from infancy to adolescence in the decade that has passed since Bryan Peterson, captain of the Sunrider expedition, took a 24-foot Zodiac boat fueled with biodiesel around the world. Aspects of Peterson's amazing voyage are described in "Around the World on Biodiesel" on page 26. When Peterson began planning his voyage in 1991, the National Biodiesel Board had not been established. In fact, the word "biodiesel" had not even entered the vernacular of the U.S. soybean industry.

The progress of the biodiesel industry since that time, Peterson said, is a testament to the fuel itself. It's also a testament to the founders of this industry-farmers, scientists and entrepreneurs-men and women who have taken a novel concept and turned it into a worldwide movement.


Tom Bryan
Editorial Director
[email protected]