Biofuel Inpact on Food and Water

World Bank report: Biofuels Caused 75% Rise in Food Prices

"The boundary between the markets for food and fuel has blurred, and food prices are increasingly mirroring energy prices."

-- Jennifer Nyberg, the Food and Agriculture Organization, as quoted.

Per Colorado scientists Jan F. Kreider and Peter S. Curtiss in "Biofuels: The Water Problem"

" The 5 billion gallons of corn ethanol produced in America in 2006 required more water than production of the 140 billion gallons of gasoline the U.S. consumed that year. "

(Kreider, J. F., and P. Curtiss, Comprehensive evaluation of impacts from potential, future automotive fuel replacements, Proceedings of Energy Sustainability 2007, Long Beach, CA, June 2007)

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In August, 2007, China declared a moratorium on the construction of most ethanol plants. Chinese officials recognized that producing corn-based ethanol was linked to rapidly rising food prices...Obviously ethanol production is a very important part of China’s energy strategy, but rising food costs and a billion and a half people watching their food prices double in the last two years, a lot of unhappy words have been spoken to the point that energy consumption has collided with food production in a time of natural disasters. Read more.

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Increasing numbers of groups, especially in Europe, are beginning to question the wisdom of the current move toward biofuels as a replacement, at least in part, for gasoline and diesel in vehicles. They argue that these fuels offer little benefit and have serious drawbacks. Specifically, they question the wisdom of burning food crops for fuel. They point to a "tortilla crisis" in Mexico caused by rising corn prices and a "bread crisis" in France caused by rising wheat prices. Inflation in China is now running above 6 percent, largely due to increases in the price of foodstuffs. Read more.

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Sugarcane monoculture is "a green tsunami that is breaking the agribusiness productive chain" and causes "social tragedies" as well as environment problems if it is not controlled, Avelar Macedo, Brazil's secretary of industry and commerce says. Read more.

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American corn-based ethanol is expensive. And while it can help cut oil imports and provide modest reductions in greenhouse gases compared to conventional gasoline, corn ethanol also carries considerable risks. Even now as Europe and China join the United States in ramping up production, world food prices are rising, threatening misery for the poorest countries...

The distortions in agricultural production are startling. Corn prices are up about 50 percent from last year, while soybean prices are projected to rise up to 30 percent in the coming year, as farmers have replaced soy with corn in their fields. The increasing cost of animal feed is raising the prices of dairy and poultry products. Read more.