Biofuel demand in US driving higher food prices, says report

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Biofuel demand in US driving higher food prices, says report
Government support for ethanol has led to an increase in corn production and a steep rise in soybean imports
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 19 July 2011 19.23 BST

Demand for biofuels in the US is driving this year's high food prices, a report has said. It predicts that food prices are unlikely to fall back down for another two years.

The report, produced by Purdue University economists for the Farm Foundation policy organisation, said US government support for ethanol, including subsidies, had fuelled strong demand for corn over the last five years.

A dramatic rise in Chinese imports of soybeans was also putting pressure on prices and supply, the report said.

Since 2005, a growing number of US farmers have switched to corn and soybeans from other crops. Farmers in other countries have also switched to corn but, the report said, the demand kept growing.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/19/biofuel-demand-us-fuel-prices

[TBMASE]

1. surprise, surprise

you use food to make fuel, it drives up the demand and the price

[Hangingon]

2. Who is demanding biofuel?

I am stuck buying the stuff and getting lower mileage.

[Lance_Boyle]

11. Poor headline - the demand is from the govt and the lobby that owns it. n/t

[ck4829]

3. Not all biofuels will impact food prices, this is why we need to drop 'first gen' biofuels ASAP

[Lost-in-FL]

4. +1

Corn and soybeans demand for all the crap foods people eat and feeding cattle, now used to make biofuels. Yeah... Forget food, they will get more money if sold for fuel. Of course prices will go up.

[indurancevile]

10. government subsidies for cargill & archer daniels midland.

[Fearless]

5. Well stop subsidizing farms to not grow. n/t

[russspeakeasy]

6. No shit ! It has been for 10 years.

[julian09]

9. That is OLD NEWS

Where have the been, bad mileage numbers plus engine damage. :shrug: :grr:

[PoliticAverse]

7. "support for ethanol, including subsidies," - stop the ethanol scam already.

[johnd83]

8. We will never have enough

biofuel made from food-stuffs to supply the fuel we use as a country. The numbers just don't work. Also the distillation process requires a tremendous amount of energy, meaning that the actual efficiency of the process is very low. There are new technologies that can use stuff like straw-grass that are a lot more efficient and don't compete with food needs. The crazy thing is I think we are giving subsidies twice to ethanol, once through farm subsidies and again through ethanol tax breaks.