## 4 Breakout Sessions
The panel addressed the wide discrepancy between the price required by biomass and biofuel producers and current market prices. The AHB economic study of the four regional demonstration farms has concluded that it is nearly impossible to find tenable biomass investment opportunities in today's petroleum markets. Only the Oregon and Washington regional studies get close to the AHB $91 Mg\({}^{-1}\) benchmark for ethanol production, which is above biorefinery product cost expectations. The high cost of land is problematic in California. And the Idaho study that includes water treatment as an ancillary environmental benefit, may be of limited opportunity in the region.  
The magnitude of the market challenge was demonstrated in the session using estimated production costs of $1.16 to $1.43 L\({}^{-1}\) for jet fuel made using poplar biomass grown on nonarable land in California, or $0.95 to $1.19 L\({}^{-1}\) for biomass grown on irrigated cropland, when the current pricing of petroleum-derived jet fuel is $0.48 L\({}^{-1}\)[28]. Consequently, policies assisting both feedstock production and fuels conversion would be inordinately advantageous, along with market strategies to enhance the competitive position of the biofuels industry. The panel felt that developing and monetizing environmental and social benefits beyond energy supply should be part of any market development work. The panel recognized that stable government backing, in terms of regulatory and funding support, will be indispensable to the growth of the industry. To illustrate, the petroleum industry's transformational development of hydraulic fracturing was in a large measure owing to U.S. government funding support [46]. However, some have projected that the biofuels industry will be sustainable without government mandates or supports if crude oil prices remain above $100 per barrel [47]. Markets--Co-products were acknowledged as undeniably useful in improving the feedstock economics, while it was recognized that this focus would delay the move to large scale fuel production. Nevertheless, the panel noted that co-products are also very important in petroleum economics where they provide a substantial portion of refinery profits and, therefore, merit comparable and immediate attention in biorefinery market economics. The panel also endorsed monetizing the ecosystem services of poplar biomass cultivation but believe that these will be tricky to quantify. There are opportunities such as wetland credits, carbon markets, nutrient trading, etc., but the respective financial potential is not entirely clear and the analysis complicated. Nonetheless, the panel decided that the incorporation of ecosystem service markets into financing models is a legitimate undertaking, but only if accompanied by detailed definition of existing and future environmental markets. Development of a professional sales program was advised with waste-water treatment, carbon sequestration, and salmon habitat restoration considered the primary markets. A persuasive argument for carbon life cycle analyses and the carbon neutrality or low-carbon ratings of biofuels was also encouraged. The dialogue must be transparent and reliant upon rigorous science. The panel suggested quantifying the long-term influence of poplar feedstock production on food production and enhancement of rural economies. Quantifying the social benefits of biofuels will justify policy interventions that provide the necessary financial support. It was strongly advised that landowners be brought into the discussion. Again, it was directed to initiate a strong public education and government affairs campaign but proceeding cautiously so as not to oversell the benefits of biofuels. Policy--Today, biofuels are where the renewable solar and wind industries were 20 years ago in their move to commercialization. The commercialization of those two industries was assisted by legislative initiatives including production tax credits, renewable energy standards, low carbon fuel standards, renewable portfolio standards, etc.