Holy See: Biofuels Shouldn't Block Right to Food

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BRASILIA, Brazil, APRIL 25, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See is asking for measures to keep the production of biofuels from bringing about increased food prices to the point of threatening starvation in many countries.

Monsignor Renato Volante, the permanent observer of the Holy See at the Rome-based U.N. Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), participated in the FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, which was held in Brasilia, Brazil, April 17-18.

Monsignor Volante proposed that the production of biofuels should not bring about a decrease in the production of agricultural products destined for the food market.

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ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=87927
 
The food crisis has many causes, diversion for biofuel is one of them.

But high oil prices, governments around the world restricting food exports, governments increasing their stockpiles of food, speculators buying up much larger amounts of grain than normal, hoarding by individuals, the multi-year drought in Australia (which is now getting deluges of rain) are just some of the other factors which also play a part.
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/26/ST2008042602333.html?hpid=artslot
 
There is no need to use foodstock for feedstock. There are plenty other types of biomass to use and the technology is there to convert those into biofuels.

This week’s EthanolProducer newsletter had many articles on those other biomasses.
 
When they first started to use corn and other food sources for bio-fuel I sadly predicted that the cost of food would rise. How do you thing the world will perceive us “ugly Americans” when we use the food others need to provide fuel for our luxury life styles?
 
Anybody who eats American corn-fed beef is in no position to criticise one who burns corn ethanol in a car.

How is it any worse to use corn for cattle feed (which cows are NOT naturally able to eat in more than small amounts and need big doses of antibiotics to prevent serious resulting illnesses) than to use it for ethanol?

Americans aren’t starving and we are growing WAAAY more corn than we can eat. Heck, we CAN’T eat most of the corn we grow, its inedible!

Sorry, but high food prices are due to the high oil dependency of modern agriculture and speculation in the ag futures market. Food prices will get WORSE if we DON’T reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Food prices are up because oil is up.
 
KathleenElsie said:
When they first started to use corn and other food sources for bio-fuel I sadly predicted that the cost of food would rise. How do you thing the world will perceive us “ugly Americans” when we use the food others need to provide fuel for our luxury life styles?
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I think those foreigners who perceive of us “ugly Americans” in a negative light will use whatever excuse they need to hate us and blame the world’s problems on us. If it isn’t a food crisis, they’ll simply find something else.
 
manualman said:
Anybody who eats American corn-fed beef is in no position to criticise one who burns corn ethanol in a car.

How is it any worse to use corn for cattle feed (which cows are NOT naturally able to eat in more than small amounts and need big doses of antibiotics to prevent serious resulting illnesses) than to use it for ethanol?

Americans aren’t starving and we are growing WAAAY more corn than we can eat. Heck, we CAN’T eat most of the corn we grow, its inedible!

Sorry, but high food prices are due to the high oil dependency of modern agriculture and speculation in the ag futures market. Food prices will get WORSE if we DON’T reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Food prices are up because oil is up.
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Also weak dollar contributes to high commodity prices.
 
Farm subsidies. The US spends billions of taxpayer dollars for farmers to grow nothing:

washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/interactives/farmaid/

It’s all about profits. Everyone should realize that corn growers were simply looking at the bottom line when corn was being diverted into ethanol production. The technology exists today, to turn non-food crops into fuel.

autobloggreen.com/2007/07/20/mascoma-corp-to-build-cellulosic-ethanol-plant-in-michigan/

Educate yourself - cut back on the hysteria.

God bless,
Ed
 
edwest2 said:
The technology exists today, to turn non-food crops into fuel.
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Yes, but it hasn’t been affordable. One of the arguments for corn-based ethanol is that it was necessary transition before cellulosic ethanol was economically viable.
The projected margins for biomass production is not as appealing. Miranowski said, given current technology, the minimum price a farmer will accept for delivered biomass is $90 to $170 per ton, while the maximum breakeven processor price for biomass is $65 per ton. Much of the deficit is reflective of high transportation costs as well as the opportunity cost for corn land being used to produce biomass.
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One of the advantages of biomass production, Miranowski pointed out, is the ability to grow the plants on land that does not support more sensitive and labor-intensive crops, like corn, and is therefore cheaper. But the cost to transport and store that biomass to the ethanol production plants concentrated in the Midwest would negate the advantages of making ethanol, both by financial and environmental measures, he said. Current construction of cellulosic ethanol plants is underway scattered throughout the U.S.
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news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=87399

On the other hand, a company named Coskata is claiming that the cellulosic plant they are about to build will produce ethanol for less than $1/gallon. americanagriculturist.com/index.aspx?ascxid=fpStory&fpsid=33507&fpstid=2

I guess we will see. But I do agree with Monsignor Volante that it would be best not to use food for fuel.
 
Yields on plants like switchgrass is higher than corn when it comes to ethanol. In addition, switchgrass can be grown in places where corn cannot grow, uses less water, yields multiple harvests a year, and does not have to be replanted.

Throw in other sources like sawdust from lumber, yard waste, harvest waste (i.e. corn cobs), food processing waste, and municipal waste, you have plenty of alternative biomass just from waste.
 
manualman said:
Americans aren’t starving and we are growing WAAAY more corn than we can eat. Heck, we CAN’T eat most of the corn we grow, its inedible!

.
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I have read this before. I was unaware that any corn is inedible. Please explain.
 
Ridgerunner said:
I have read this before. I was unaware that any corn is inedible. Please explain.
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The vast majority of corn grown today is feed corn. This is not natural stuff and NOTHING like the sweet corn you and I eat in the summertime. It is a highly hybridized/modified plant that has phased out most of the natural protein once found in native corns until all that is left is dense starch. Tastes like sawdust.

PBS had a documentary recently on the corn industry that really opened my eyes. Sniff around for it, they usually reshow things like that. (Can’t remember the name) They rented 1 acre of cropland and farmed it conventionally and tried to follow what happened to what they grew. REALLY interesting.
 
The problem here is people who are more interested in a “cause” but not in solutions. For some, yelling slogans is the most important thing. But doing that is not productive. Obviously, biofuels made from non-food sources exist, plants are being built and money is being made.

God bless,
Ed
 
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