Tifton – It’s one thing to talk about producing alternative fuels in Georgia from pine trees, soybeans, corn or even peaches or catfish fat.

But some of the 500 people attending the first Georgia Bioenergy Conference this week in Tifton are considering putting up money to build fuel-making factories. They include a South Georgia catfish farmer, the owner of a stump-grinding and mulch company in Canton, and Scotty Bass, who considered opening a truck stop before concluding that a biodiesel plant on his family’s farm near Moultrie might be less expensive and more fruitful.

If Bass and others bet right, they could add to a fledgling industry that Gov. Sonny Perdue said he hopes will not only power Georgia’s cars and trucks, but also make the state an exporter of alternative fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol.

“What I want to do is move beyond the talking stage,” said Perdue, one of a parade of politicians to stop by the three-day conference, which concludes today. “Get some projects out here that we can move to commercialization.”

State officials know of only three small biofuel-making plants in Georgia. But in recent months they have heard from more than 20 other parties interested in building more.

A wave of alternative-fuel plants is under construction throughout the nation. Owners are enticed by tax incentives, government mandates and, most of all, surging oil prices.

It’s an enticing time for entrepreneurs, though the field is complex and many at the conference are still trying to understand it. In addition to getting the chemical processes right, producers face government regulations, potentially volatile markets for supplies, and uncertainty about future prices of rival diesel and gasoline.

One particularly promising segment – efficiently producing ethanol from the state’s plentiful pine trees – is still in the research stages.

“I’m really looking for investors and more information,” said Bass, a 40-year-old truck driver who jotted down names of contacts he met at the conference. “A lot of it is new to me.”

Bass, who has a partner who has studied the biodiesel business, needs about $1 million to build a plant, possibly using his family’s 200-acre farm as collateral.

“We’re going to the bank, probably Monday,” he said.

Alton Cromer, who owns a catfish farm and distribution business in Bainbridge, is considering using fish fat and grease from area restaurants to produce electricity on his farm and biodiesel for his trucks. His direct energy costs should go down, but he’s concerned about the time and energy involved.

“I don’t know if I will go into it or not,” he said.

Jimmy Bobo, who owns a mulch business in Canton, wants a more lucrative outlet for his wood waste. He is considering building a biodiesel plant in Cherokee County. At first, he would use the fuel for his own truck, possibly expanding to supply commercial customers.

Bobo liked seeing top state and legislative officials at the conference, voicing support for alternative energy.

“It’s one of the things that will push people like me … to go to the bank and borrow money” for a project.

But some attendees heard a note of caution from Georgia’s governor.

“We can’t be overly optimistic,” Perdue told hopefuls. “We can’t let equipment vendors and other people come along and sell us a dream. We’ve got to figure out the sustainable economic model there.”

Perdue said he doesn’t want to mandate that alternative fuels make up a certain percentage of the fuel sales to consumers in Georgia. State Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons), who uses biodiesel in his trucking business, has proposed requiring local governments to buy alternative fuels when they’re available and cost less.

Most biodiesel sales in Georgia are for commercial or government truck and bus fleets. Vehicles on the road now can use conventional fuels blended with biodiesel (for diesel engines) or certain levels of ethanol (for gasoline-powered engines).

But few retail outlets in Georgia sell biofuels to the public.

That will change soon, said Dennis Burnett, a manager for Davis Oil, a Perry-based fuel distributor. The company sells biodiesel at one station in Warner Robins, but it plans to offer it at more of its 13 other stations. Burnett predicts other station owners will do the same. Within two years, he said, metro Atlantans will be able to buy biofuels without driving to far-off stations.

But Ann Koc thinks it’s too early to jump into the biofuels business.

The Georgia Tech graduate and former computer programmer from Smyrna said she and her husband have been studying the industry for five years.

“There are a lot of details in it,” she said.

What concerns her, she said, is that she figures a gallon of biodiesel is only about 5 to 10 cents cheaper than regular diesel. That’s not enough of a cushion for her, but she predicts the market will be right within a couple years.

By then, she says, the couple could start a distribution business or possibly build a fuel plant. For those at the conference who plan to take the dive sooner, she said, “They will find out …. it’s a tough industry to break into.”