Food or fuel?

Biofuels force the choice on us

Posted by Adam Browning (Guest Contributor) at 12:32 PM on 28 Mar 2007

Read more about: food | agriculture | biofuels | energy | Lester Brown

Lester Brown says the diversion is already happening:

If you think you are spending more each week at the supermarket, you may be right. The escalating share of the U.S. grain harvest going to ethanol distilleries is driving up food prices worldwide.

Corn prices have doubled over the last year, wheat futures are trading at their highest level in 10 years, and rice prices are rising too. In addition, soybean futures have risen by half. A Bloomberg analysis notes that the soaring use of corn as the feedstock for fuel ethanol "is creating unintended consequences throughout the global food chain."

The countries initially hit by rising food prices are those where corn is the staple food. In Mexico, one of more than 20 countries with a corn-based diet, the price of tortillas is up by 60 percent. Angry Mexicans in crowds of up to 75,000 have taken to the streets in protest, forcing the government to institute price controls on tortillas.

Food prices are also rising in China, India, and the United States, countries that contain 40 percent of the world's people. While relatively little corn is eaten directly in these countries, vast quantities are consumed indirectly in meat, milk, and eggs in both China and the United States.

I don't know if biofuels can be controlled in a way that ensures that they are grown sustainably. I am more optimistic about electricity generation on an upward green trajectory. Plug it in, I say, plug it in.

For story: Food or fuel?
16 Comments | Post a Comment

George Monbiot says "it's lethal"...

... Canadian TV ads say:
biofuels consumer = environmentalist

There's been a lot of talk about biofuels in these pages. Convincing arguments have been made time and time again against putting corn in our cars. But George Monbiot's latest blog entry wraps these arguments together in a way that would surely make the Grist beat writers proud.

And for an example of the hearty government enthusiasm towards biofuels, view these priceless ads that have aired up here on Canadian television. I particularly enjoy this segment:

"I can tell from your SUV that you're really concerned about the environment." (in sarcastic tone)

"Actually. It runs on ethanol."

by pcarbo at 1:22 PM on 28 Mar 2007

Starve Us To Death

This would be an Earth First! dream come true. Convert to biofuels and starve all the humans to death. Hey, then only the polar bears will be left -- of course, since Global Warming has nothing to do with humans, their 'environment' will still be destroyed. However, if we automate our ice skating rinks before mankind perishes from hunger, they can live out their days in Rockefeller Center.

Texeme.Construct(function(x)=Participation(x))

by jabailo at 1:24 PM on 28 Mar 2007

Pcarbo

Great links!

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 1:45 PM on 28 Mar 2007

Well

Well obviously corn is bad.

But I've been getting some mixed messages on forrest crops (i.e. Poplar forrests)

One guy commented that an acre of forrest can get 500watts of solar.
Even though it's only 1% effecient

Meanwhile, 35% effecient solar concentrators only get about half that.

Kinda making me scratch my head hows thats possible.

by GreyFlcn at 2:40 PM on 28 Mar 2007

L.B. finally uses the "S" word

Actually, for me the significance about Lester Brown's latest missive is that he finally mentions the word "subsidy". Up until now, his op-eds have scrupulously avoided mentioning subsidies as a factor driving their production, preferring instead (and inexplicably) to stress only the role of high oil prices. The "S-word" crops up in the concluding paragraph of the article:

Ethanol euphoria is not an acceptable substitute for a carefully thought through policy. For Washington, it is time to decide whether to continue with the current policy of subsidizing more and more grain-based fuel distilleries or to encourage a shift to more fuel-efficient cars and a new automotive fuel economy centered on plug-in hybrid cars and wind energy. The choice is between a future of rising world food prices, spreading hunger, and growing political instability, or one of stable food prices, sharply reduced dependence on oil, and much lower carbon emissions.

A small step for a man; a giant leap for critics of the current biofuel policy.

These are only my personal opinions.

by Ron Steenblik at 3:50 AM on 29 Mar 2007

who wants to starve

will it be a life or death decision? in any case the rise in food prices seem to me a far serious problem than fuel.

by lorayoh at 6:24 AM on 29 Mar 2007

Plugin to wind electricity

Once again Lester has it right. Plugin hybrids running on wind power is the one and only practical way to solve our GHG and (perpetual)oil war problems.

Bush appointee Bernanke says inflation is back!?! How shocking, I'm susrprised he noticed. Food, fuel, and energy prices rising? Precipitously? Grain prices doubling in one year?

Yer doin' a hekuva job berni!

Where was inflation when he lowered rates before the last election?

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 6:40 AM on 29 Mar 2007

Sign him up for Grist!

Some of you may have missed this news item. A well-know political commentator has just written the following:

"[M]ore than 3 billion people in the world were condemned to die prematurely of hunger or thirst from plans by ... the United States, to convert foodstuffs like corn into fuel for cars.
"This is not an exaggerated figure, it's more likely cautious. I've been meditating quite a bit since President Bush's meeting with North American automobile makers."

The author? Fidel Castro.

These are only my personal opinions.

by Ron Steenblik at 7:51 AM on 29 Mar 2007

Ron

I have also noted Brown's avoidance of some topics. I think he rightly fears that radical changes could screw up the market and accidentally starve those dependent on subsidized exports before the market could adjust. Our tax dollars are feeding the poor, along with killing their own ag industries. It can take years to develop alternative food sources.

I would also like to point out that when I started criticizing biofuels the proponents mocked the idea that food would be an issue. Yet another argument has fallen by the wayside.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 8:18 AM on 29 Mar 2007

BioD

I was talking specifically about Lester Brown's previous missives on biofuels. He is now specifically calling for an end to subsidies for corn-based ethanol. Do you see something wrong with that stance?

These are only my personal opinions.

by Ron Steenblik at 8:33 AM on 29 Mar 2007
[ Parent ]

Ron

"Do you see something wrong with that stance?"

Not at all. I was speculating as to why he has avoided the topic of corn subsidies until now.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 8:44 AM on 29 Mar 2007

Fidel

Wow, thanks Ron for the heads up on Fidel's ethanol commentary. I read through his op-ed (here for all you Spanish-readers; I haven't found an English translation anywhere), and thought I'd pick out another quote (my own translation):

In our country, land that could by dedicated to ethanol production is better used to grow food to feed our population and for environmental protection.
Every country in the world, rich or poor, with no exceptions, could save itself fuel and billions of investment dollars exchanging all its incandescent lightbulbs for fluorescent bulbs, something Cuba has acheived in every home in this country. This would be a meaningful action against global warming that would not starve to death millions of people around the world.

by Julia Olmstead at 8:53 AM on 29 Mar 2007

Cut the Spam

Gristmill poohbahs: I would like to suggest that you start charging people like jabailo a little fee--say, a buck--for every post they submit with a little spam footer in it promoting their business.

Although I would like to see an ad-free site, at least you should get a cut if people are going to post their own ads.

The 5% Project

by JMG at 11:34 AM on 29 Mar 2007
[ Parent ]

More Fidel

Here's a transcript of a Hugo Chavez-Fidel Castro ethanol discussion
posted to The Fueling Station on March 1st by David Adams, the
St. Pete Times principle biofuels cheerleader.

The Fueling Station:
http://blogs.tampabay.com/energy/ethanol/index.html
---------------------------------------------------

Chavez: Do you know how many hectares of corn are needed to
produce one million barrels of ethanol?

Castro: To do what?

Chavez: To produce one million barrels of ethanol?

Castro: Ethanol. I believe you told me about that the other
day. Somewhere around 20 million hectares.

Chavez: [Laughing] Just like that.

Castro: Go ahead, remind me.

Chavez: Indeed, 20 million. You are the one with an except-
ional mind, not me.

Castro: Twenty million. Well, of course. The idea of using
food to produce fuel is tragic, dramatic. No one is sure
how high the price of food will rise when soy is being
used for fuel, with the need there is in the world to
produce eggs, milk, to produce meat. It is one more tragedy,
one of many at this time.

I am happy to know that you have taken up the flag to save
the species because ... there are new problems, very
difficult problems and therefore to see someone become
a great preacher of the cause, a champion of the cause,
an advocate of the life of the species. For that, I
congratulate you. Continue fighting [words inaudible]
to educate the people so they can understand.
-----------------------------------------------------

Adam's comments can be read here:
http://blogs.tampabay.com/energy/2007/03/castro_and_chav. ...

But the governments of Cuba and Venezuela are planning
to move forward together on biofuels production. Cuba
is interested in producing ethanol largely for export
according to this IPS report:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36823

by Karen Orr at 12:00 PM on 29 Mar 2007

If only Che were still alive!

If only we had a Motorcycle Diary from beyond the grave! And Gael Garcia Bernal could come over any time, to help me with the translation.

But Fidel, meanwhile, is doing great, especially for somebody who is himself supposed to be all but dead. Here is a bit that precedes what Julia translated. I translated "alcohol" as "alcohol," but presumably El Jefe means what we would call "ethanol." The organic chemists can explain it all to us:

<<
Other countries, of the Rich World, have already carefully planned to use not only corn, but also wheat, sunflower seed, rapeseed and other foods, all to produce fuel. The Europeans, for example, would make a lot of money by importing all the world's soybeans, in order to reduce the fuel expense of their automobiles, and to give the rest to their animals as feed, since soybeans are a legume especially rich in all kinds of essential amino-acids.

In Cuba, several kinds of alcohol used to be produced as a by-product of the sugar industry, after drawing off the sugar from the cane juice three times. [?] Climate change is already affecting our sugar production. Long dry spells keep alternating with record rainfalls, which barely allows for the production of sugar over a hundred days, with adequate yields, in the months of our very mild Winter, so that the sugar, per ton of cane, falls short, or the cane, per hectare, falls short: all owing to the prolonged dry spells in the months of planting and growing.

In Venezuela, I have heard that they would not export their alcohol, but they would use it to improve the environmental quality of their own fuel. For that purpose, independently from the excellent technology used in Brazil to produce alcohol, the use of such technology in Cuba for producing alcohol directly from cane juice amounts to no more than a fantasy, or a raving, of those who are fooling themselves with that idea. In our country, those places that have been given over to the direct production of alcohol can be much more useful in the production of food for the people, and in the protection of the environment.
>>

How old is Elian Gonzalez at this point? Sera' un guapito jovencito a estas alturas, pienso yo, si sale a su hermoso padre, ?que no?

He must be miserable, imagining how much fun he might be having with that looney cousin back in Miami. He might have been adopted by Katharine Harris, and then, in just a few years, he might have run for office. ("Gevalt!," as another important South Florida constituency might put it.)

As it is, it would be nice to think that Janet Reno kept in touch with him. She was always a kind of cuddly "granma" figure, so to speak.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 6:11 AM on 30 Mar 2007

domestic biodiesel?

Question:
I'm a new biodiesel user... the company that provides my biodiesel uses domestic crops. I've been reading a bit about the deforestation, etc that is happening in other parts of the world to produce ethanol for the U.S. and biodiesel for Europe.
Other than taking up space and water that would otherwise be used for domestic food production, what drawbacks are there to DOMESTIC BIODIESEL production here in the U.S.?

Thanks...

by Mr Best at 7:30 AM on 30 Mar 2007

ADVERTISING POLICY

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