Kansas State University is hosting a forum in December for agricultural producers, policymakers, regulators, and others interested in the rapidly changing field of climate change policy, carbon credit trading, and biofuels.

The forum, titled "Agriculture´s Role in the New Carbon Economy" will be held Dec. 17-18 at K-State´s Alumni Center in Manhattan, according to forum organizer Chuck Rice. Rice is a professor of agronomy at K-State and national director of the Consortium for Agricultural Soils Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases (CASMGS).

Some of the topics at the forum will include:

Cap-and-Trade: Is federal legislation coming?

Resource assessment needs, sustainability issues, and life-cycle standards associated with biofuels development;

Modeling the impact of cellulosic ethanol production on soil carbon;

Economics of the existing ethanol industry adopting cellulosic technology;

Environmental impact of climate change on Kansas;

Chicago Climate Exchange and carbon trading programs for agriculture; and

California´s Global Warming Solutions Act: How does it impact agriculture?

"Policymakers at both state and federal levels are becoming more interesting in taking some kind of action on climate change, and agriculture needs to make sure it's involved in the discussion. There are many ways agriculture can be part of the solution, such as soil carbon sequestration and biofuels production," Rice said. "It´s also important to know how climate change could affect agriculture in Kansas in the future. We´ll be discussing these topics."

The CASMGS Forum begins at 1:00 p.m. on Dec.17 and ends Dec. 18 at 5:00 p.m. The registration fee is $125, if made by Dec. 10 and $175 after that time. The banquet on Monday evening and lunch on Tuesday afternoon are included in the registration fee.

More details and registration information is available on the K-State Web site: http://soilcarboncenter.k-state.edu .