Biofuels effect on food prices and supply

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Now we know why they're getting into agriculture...

Food prices to rise for years, biofuel firms say
Thu Apr 3, 2008 - Staple food prices will rise for some years, but should eventually fall to historical averages as harvests increase, biofuel company executives said on Thursday.

Soaring demand for better quality food from rapidly industrializing emerging markets such as China, supply shortages, increased demand for biofuels, and a surging appetite for food commodities by investment funds, have combined to push prices of basic foods higher and higher in recent months. Stephane Delodder, managing partner of Netherlands-based consultancy iFuel Corporate Advisory, told a conference the problem of rising food prices would persist for some years.

Market forces should eventually help rebalance supply and demand, especially in markets which are not highly regulated, but this could take some time. "(It could be) a few years at most before the situation returns to normal," Delodder said.

He said grains and oilseed futures markets, which have corrected down recently after meteoric rises, may already be signaling that supply will rise as farmers raise plantings. U.S. soybean prices fell sharply this week after a U.S. government forecast that American farmers would plant 18 percent more of the oilseed in the spring, at the expense of last year's superstar of the food commodity markets, corn (maize).

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Biofuels Blamed for Rise in Food Prices...

Asian Development Bank: Biofuels Making Food More Expensive
Apr 21, 2008 - Governments Should Remove Biofuel Subsidies to Help Ease Soaring Food Prices

Developed nations should stop paying agricultural subsidies to encourage biofuel production because the payments are making staple foods more expensive, the Asian Development Bank said Monday. Biofuels should also be re-examined by governments around the world as it is increasingly unclear how environmentally friendly they are, ADB Managing Director General Rajat Nag said in an interview with The Associated Press. The production of biofuel leads to forests being destroyed and reduced land area for growing crops for food, he said.

"We feel that the developed countries should seriously rethink the whole issue of biofuel, particularly the biofuel subsidies," Nag said. "Giving subsidies for biofuels ... basically acts as an implicit tax on staple foods." Paying farmers to grow oilseed and other crops to produce biofuels means they grow fewer food crops, resulting in higher prices for such staples as palm oil and corn.

Nag did not give examples, but countries that subsidize biofuel include the U.S., the world's largest producer of ethanol, which is made mostly from corn and other grain crops. The country's farm subsidy programs include payments for ethanol production. "We believe it is more important to let the developed country farmers decide on what they will plant, based on the relative prices, based on the international prices, but not subsidized prices," he said.

More ABC News: Biofuels Blamed for Rise in Food Prices

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Moritorium on biofuel investment proposed...

UN urges biofuel investment halt
The UN's new food adviser urges a freeze on biofuel investment and condemns "foodstuff speculation".

The UN's new top adviser on food has urged a freeze on biofuel investment, saying the blind pursuit of the policy is "irresponsible". Olivier de Schutter also wants curbs on investors whose speculation is, he says, driving food prices higher. UN officials liken the rise in food prices to a silent tsunami, threatening 100 million of the world's poorest.

The use of food crops for alternative sources of energy like ethanol is one factor behind the price hike. Mr de Schutter did not go quite as far as his predecessor in the job, Jean Ziegler, the BBC's Laura Trevelyan reports from New York. Mr Ziegler had condemned biofuels as a "crime against humanity" and called for an immediate ban on their use.

'Predictable' crisis

But the new special rapporteur on the right to food did insist the American and European goals for biofuel production were unrealistic. "I am calling for a freeze on all investment in this sector" - Olivier de Schutter, UN special rapporteur on the right to food

"The ambitious goals for biofuel production set by the United States and the European Union are irresponsible," he said in an interview for France's Le Monde newspaper. "I am calling for a freeze on all investment in this sector." The biofuel rush was, he argued, a "scandal that only serves the interests of a tiny lobby".

More BBC NEWS | Special Reports | UN urges biofuel investment halt

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Chinese scientists on the trail of GM food...

Discovery May Help Boost Food Supply
May 4, 2008 - China Experts Identify Gene for Yield, Height in Rice

Scientists in China have identified a single gene that appears to control rice yield, as well as its height and flowering time, taking what may be a crucial step in global efforts to increase crop productivity. In an article published in Nature Genetics, the researchers said they were able to pinpoint a single gene, Ghd7, which appears to determine all three traits. Previous studies identified a region on chromosome 7 which seemed to be responsible, but they were not able to zero in on any specific gene.

"Our study shows that a single gene can control several traits with major effects. It can double the yield, determine flowering time and plant height," said Zhang Qifa of the Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan province in China. "Previously, we thought we needed to change many genes to change rice yield, now we just need to manipulate a single gene to increase productivity," he told Reuters by telephone.

Zhang and his colleagues studied 19 rice varieties in Asia and found that plants that were shorter, had fewer grains per cluster of flowers, and flowered earlier were lacking in the gene Ghd7. When the gene was restored, the scientists saw sharp changes of increased yields, a doubling of the time to flowering and a 67 percent increase in height.

The scientists also found five different versions of Ghd7. "The most highly active versions were present in warmer regions, allowing rice plants to fully exploit light and temperature by delaying flowering and increasing yield. Less active or inactive versions were found in cooler regions, enabling rice to be cultivated in areas where the growing season is shorter," they wrote.

ABC News: Discovery May Help Boost Food Supply

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Usin' the left over rice straw to make biofuel...

New discovery could turn rice straw into an inexpensive renewable source of biofuel
Washington, May 27 : Researchers in China have reported a discovery that could turn rice straw into an inexpensive new renewable source of biofuel.

Their new study, due to appear in ACS' bimonthly journal Energy and Fuels, describes a way to boost production of biofuel from rice straw by almost 65 percent. Rice straw is the stem and leaves left behind after harvesting the grains.

Scientists, however, have not tapped rice straw for production of biogas because bacteria cannot easily break down its cellulose due to the complex physical and chemical structures of lignocellulosic biomass. Now, scientist Xiujin Li and colleagues have treated rice straw with sodium hydroxide before allowing bacteria to ferment it into a biogas.

That so-called pre-treatment increased biogas production by making more cellulose and other compositions in straw available for digestion by the bacteria. Three prototype facilities have already been built in China using this technology.

New discovery could turn rice straw into an inexpensive renewable source of biofuel

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The rising cost of food...

High food prices for ‘years to come’
June 5 2008 | Countries failed on Thursday to agree fresh policies to tackle the food crisis even as the declaration of the UN summit warned of high food prices “in the years to come”.

The summit, hosted by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, was called to tackle food price rises that have triggered riots in 30 countries, but became embroiled in a bitter dispute over biofuels and export restrictions. Agricultural commodities rose on the news as traders saw no prospect of change in U-turn on biofuels policies in the US or in the use of foodstuff’s trade restrictions by key exporters. Bad weather has also contributed to Thursday’s price rise.

In Chicago, spot corn hit a record high of $6.43 a bushel and corn for delivery next year – by which time the US forecasts that about 33 per cent of its corn crop will be consumed by the biofuels industry – hit a high of $6.97 a bushel. Soyabean prices hit a three-month peak of $14.56 a bushel as Argentina, the world’s third largest soya exporter, made no move to lift its export restriction and instead paralysed the summit as it battled to avoid any mention to trade measures.

The summit ended with a commitment to “eliminate hunger and secure food for all today and tomorrow”, but officials recognised that the declaration lacked fresh policy. Jacques Diouf, FAO’s director-general, appeared to agree at the summit’s final press conference: “The countries come together to the minimum common denominator.” Franco Frattini, foreign minister of Italy, which was hosting the Rome summit, said that text was “disappointing relative to expectations”. He added that the declaration was “unfortunately very watered down”.

Countries found a consensus only in that the problem would continue. “The indications are that food prices will remain high in the years to come,” said the declaration. It added: “The current crisis has highlighted the fragility of the world’s food system and their vulnerability to shocks.” Officials acknowledged the poor results, but said the dispute over trade and biofuels was overshadowing the consensus reached at the summit to relaunch investment in agriculture for the first time in 25 years. They added that the G8 summit in July would push forward plans to tackle the slowdown in farming productivity.

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If they can't meet their population control, is there any wonder why there is a food crisis??...

India misses population control targets for 2010, 2016
11 Jul 2008, At a time of spiralling inflation and dwindling food stocks, the failure of the ambitious National Population Policy-2000 to strategise a gradual reduction in the population growth rate has meant that the country has five crore more hungry mouths to feed than envisaged.

NPP-2000, which set national socio-demographic goals for the year 2010, said if its strategies were implemented, India’s population, which is projected to be 116 crore by 2010, could be capped at 110 crore. However, in 2008, the population is already 113 crore, according to the figures given out by National Commission on Population. This is five crore more than what the average projection of population had said it would be.

More importantly, it means there would be five crore more mouths to feed at a time when the government has banned export of non-basmati rice to avoid a famine-like situation, as has been admitted by the Centre in the Supreme Court. This total non-implementation of NPP-2000 was brought into sharp focus on Thursday by counsel Sanjay Parikh before a Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and J M Panchal during the hearing on a PIL by NGO Azadi Bachao Andolan, which seeks implementation of NPP in letter and spirit.

He said that though the court had issued notices to the Centre and the states in 2006, neither the Centre nor the states had responded. The Centre, through additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam, said the affidavit was ready and would be filed by Monday. Parikh said that pursuant to NPP-2000, the National Commission on Population was constituted on May 11, 2000, but strangely, it took five years to hold its first meeting - in July 2005.

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Turn-around in biofuel thinking...

The Problem With Biofuels
July 12, 2008 - Skyrocketing Food Prices Have Caused Some To Rethink The Wisdom Of Using Crops For Fuel

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Use corn and other crops, instead of oil, to make fuel. It's renewable and causes less climate change because a lot of the carbon produced in burning it is reabsorbed as the new crop grows. Governments and industry loved the idea so much that the European Union decided fully 10 percent of fuel should be made this way in the future, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. Then reality hit.

"[The] overall conclusion was that we really needed to slow down on biofuel production and use because all the new evidence shows there are some potentially harmful effects," said Professor Ed Gallagher, author of the Report on Biofuels. A new European study shows that producing biofuels is helping drive up already skyrocketing food prices, some of which have effectively doubled in the past few years.

"We shouldn't be taking agricultural land and growing biofuels on it," said Nick Goodhall of the UK Renewable Fuels Agency. "In that sense, of course, if we are displacing food then that means it has got to come from somewhere else. So one can easily see why there might be an effect." There was always going to be a relationship between what biofuels burn and what they stuff costs. But nobody really anticipated how much of an effect biofuels would have on the production and the price of food. It's caused a serious policy rethink. Europe will now slow down its switch to biofuels and look for other new technologies instead.

Another problem is that refining some crops, like corn, into fuel can produce more greenhouse gases than simply using gasoline in cars in the first place. As can cutting down rainforests to grow sugar cane, for example. It's what scientists call bad biofuel practice. "Bad biofuels, as they are known, are exactly that," said Goodhall. "They don't help anything and, in fact, can make problems worse." Biofuels once seemed like a quick fix, but may have just been a detour on the road to a sustainable energy policy.

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Ethanol not all its cracked up to be...

Ethanol, once darling, is losing some luster
4 Sept.`08 - GOP drops subsides from platform as it’s widely blamed for food prices

Ethanol's wild ride has brought it quickly from political golden child to scapegoat for everything from soaring food prices and world hunger to pork-barrel spending. This week, the Republican Party in its national platform called for an end to ethanol mandates in just the latest shot at a fuel alternative that, in some circles, has grown more targeted than treasured.

High ranking politicians, including presidential candidate John McCain, have publicly opposed ethanol subsidies before, but the platform approved during the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., marks the first time a major U.S. party has taken an official stance against publicly funded ethanol incentives. It was just four years earlier that the Republican platform called for "efforts to expand the use of biodiesel and ethanol, which can reduce America's dependence on foreign oil while increasing revenues to farmers."

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said his party "got it wrong" on this issue, and he doesn't see how cutting the mandate fits with reducing the country's dependence on foreign fossil fuels. "That's a big mistake," Thune said. "If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting, and right now we're 70 percent dependent on foreign oil."

David King, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, said party platforms in many cases reflect the presidential nominee's interests, but the documents are not followed or paid attention to by party regulars. "You would be hard pressed to find any Republican in Iowa, for example, who would in any way embrace this as something in their party's platform," King said. "It wouldn't change their behavior." But whatever maneuvering landed that paragraph on the Republican platform may spill out in other venues, King said.

More Ethanol, once darling, is losing some luster - Oil & energy - MSNBC.com

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Other biofuel avenues...

Fuel From Food? The Feast Is Over
Nov. 23, 2008 - Biofuel Researchers Are Nibbling On New Ideas, Hoping To End The Feast On Food Crops

In future years we may look back at the Great Mexican Tortilla Crisis of 2006 as the time when ethanol lost its vroom. Right or wrong, that was when blame firmly settled on biofuels for the surge in food prices. The diversion of American corn from flour to fuel put the flat corn bread out of reach for Mexico's poorest. Two years later, the search is on for ways to keep corn on the table rather than in the gas tank. Moving away from food crops, the biofuel of the future may come from the tall grass growing wild by the roadside, from grain stalks left behind by the harvest, and from garbage dumps and dinner table scraps.

Carlo Bakker's tiny biofuel operation, World Mobile Plants, avoids edibles. He says his mini-refinery, loaded into a 40-foot shipping container on a flatbed truck, roams South Africa making biodiesel fuel from used cooking oil, or from sunflower seeds or the jatropha shrub, which grows in poor soil with little water. He says he plans eventually to use organic household waste as well. Bakker says one mobile unit can make 260,000 gallons per year, which he sells for the equivalent of US$3.79 per gallon, on a par with regular diesel prices. "We don't compete with the food chain," Bakker said during a biofuels conference in Amsterdam. "We see opportunities not only to make money but to help people."

Governments encouraged the switch to alternative fuels in recent years to lessen dependence on imported oil. But producers are taking a hard look at the food crops used as raw material for these so-called first-generation biofuels. After all, they too had to pay more as prices spiked. "They got burned. They don't want to go through that problem again," said Vicky Sharpe, director of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, which administers a US$1 billion Canadian government fund to invest in clean technologies.

More Fuel From Food? The Feast Is Over, Biofuel Researchers Are Nibbling On New Ideas, Hoping To End The Feast On Food Crops - CBS News