MADISON, Wis. -- President George W. Bush's call for decreasing dependence on foreign oil has researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison talking about the future of biofuels in the state.

Gov. Jim Doyle said he thinks Bush's speech on Tuesday is the symbolic opening of the door for Wisconsin to be at the forefront of energy production. Doyle said he wants Wisconsin to be at the forefront of becoming self-sufficient in producing its own energy.

Members of UW-Madison's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences gathered on Tuesday to talk about ethanol and the changes needed for the future.

Researchers are already looking at ways to make the production of ethanol, which is currently made from corn, more efficient. Researchers said they are now looking beyond the corn kernel for alternative energy sources.

UW-Madison researchers said they are working on developing unique ways to make ethanol.

"From crop plants, like soybean and corn, to grasses, which are unfamiliar as crops but could become very significant to our production ag economy," said Molly Jahn, dean and director of the UW-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The researchers on are the cusp of landing a $125 million Department of Energy grant for a regional biofuels research center, WISC-TV reported.

"The Department of Energy estimates we'll need to process a billion tons of biomass a year in order to meet these goals for ethanol, and corn won't grow in every part of the country very well," said Timothy Donohue, professor and director of the biotechnology training program.

Right now, ethanol is made out of corn -- but only the kernels. Researchers said that if all of it was converted to ethanol, food prices would skyrocket and it wouldn't put much of a dent in the country's oil dependency.

"We need to think about a diversified pipeline that has trees, corn and grasses to provide that," Donohue said.

Donohue said that he and others are working to use every part of the corn plant, even putting bacteria to work.

"A lot of what we consider waste is actually very valuable if you're going to build a bio energy economy," Donohue said.

But he said the next generation of biofuels is still a few years off.

"Five to 10 years down the road we'll be able to deploy new generation so plants and microbes generate biofuels," he said.

While farmers are pleased with the increase in cost of corn, some food producers are not.

Daybreak Foods out of Lake Mills said it worries that higher corn prices could mean an increase in the cost of everything from eggs to cheese, butter and beef.

UW-Madison researchers said they are still about five to 10 years away from developing an alternative to corn.

Researchers said they are even looking into engineering grasses that would start to break down into fuel once harvested.