This briefing paper reviews evidence of the impacts of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on food prices, with a focus on corn and soy, and presents new analysis on the impact of the RFS on U.S. livestock
The United States and Europe should cut back on production of biofuels because they are hurting food supply at a time of rising prices, an adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday. Biofuels derived from crops have come under attack in recent weeks on fears they compete with food for farming land and help to push up food prices, worsening a global crisis that is affecting millions of poor. "We need to cut back significantly on our biofuels programmes," said Jeffrey Sachs, a prominent US academic who is a special adviser to Ban on anti-poverty goals.
A moratorium on grain and oilseed-based biofuels could slash food prices by up to 20% within the next two years, according to leading agricultural researchers. Agricultural experts called for a moratorium on the production of biofuels from corn Figures from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) suggest that suspension of production this year would reduce corn prices by about 20% and wheat by about 10% in 2009-10.
In February, on a chilly, clear Sunday morning, Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, along with co-sponsors Boeing and GE Aviation, lured more than 200 journalists to a hangar at Heathrow to witness what they said was airline history. Everyone's eyes were fixed on a 747 as it took off on the world's first biofuel demonstration flight.
Building more and smaller ethanol plants could help overcome concerns that production of the biofuel consumes more in energy than it provides, Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said on Friday. One of the reasons so much energy is used to make ethanol is that trucks travel long distances carrying corn, chaff or other plant material to ethanol plants. "Smaller and locally owned I think are the right way to go," Ritz said as he kicked off debate in the House of Commons on the final stage of a bill that would ensure that gasoline contains 5 percent ethanol by 2010.
In what could open new doors towards development, Russia is keen to invest in areas like oil and gas, tourism, power and infrastructure development in Assam. Russian ambassador to India, Vyacheslav Trubnikov, disclosed this to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi at a meeting attended by senior officials of the Government of Russian Federation and the Assam Government at Gogoi's official residence here today, a press release stated. Trubnikov, during the meeting, said that his country wants to develop close ties with the North East part of India and help the region in the process of development.
Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), has announced that its entire sub 100 HP range of Massey Ferguson and TAFE tractors, barring one model, has been made compatible for use with bio diesel. These tractors can use the current 5% blend of regular diesel with diesel produced by esterising vegetable oils obtained from Corn, Jatropha, Rape Seed, etc. Since use of edible oil for this purpose is banned in our country, oil from Jatropha is normally used for making bio diesel which is a green fuel, bio degradable and environmental friendly.
Rising food prices may derail biofuels policy
The call by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for a top-level task force to address the issue of the spiraling cost of food worldwide is precisely the kind of co-ordinated global action that is necessary at this precarious moment in history, and could not have come at a better time. The secretary general's other suggestions, that the World Food Programme needs to be fully funded, that key producer nations should not ban exports, and that bio-fuels need to be reconsidered in light of the current crisis, are also all well taken.
Within a couple of years of the global rush to promote biofuels new questions are being asked about the claimed benefits of these fuels and serious negative impacts are coming to light. It is in this regard that the focus of the biofuel policy in India has been towards utilising an "oil bearing' plant, jatropha carcus, for oil extraction, processing and eventual blending with diesel. The advantage of this plant lies in the fact that it can be grown on cultivable wasteland and requires very little fertiliser and other inputs as normally required in agriculture. (Editorial) May 3-9, 2008
The image of biofuels is rapidly tarnishing. Already under fire for displacing food production and tropical forests, they are now charged with marginalising poor rural women. In a report published on 21 April, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization concludes that women subsistence farmers will be evicted to make way for huge biofuel plantations.
