Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis

[James]

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis | Environment | The Guardian

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.

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[flaja]

When did this 75% increase begin?

Where I live prices for things like eggs, butter, milk and ice cream started going up while Clinton occupied the White House, but I’ve never seen any reason why. Then the price for flour and sugar went up like crazy and this was blamed on the low-carb diet fad (grain products that could go to make sugar and flour was used as animal feed instead).

Biofuels need not drive up the cost of food. Biodiesel can be made from waste vegetable oil while some crops that can be used to produce oil that can be used as diesel fuel can be grown on marginal land that is not now under cultivation. Mustard has one of the highest oil yields per acre of all of the possible oil crops. I could produce enough mustard seeds on my 3/4 acre lot to provide enough diesel fuel to last me for several months each year. We could easily expand vegetable oil production by planting oil crops on land that is not now under cultivation. We could do this without diverting food crops.

BTW: I cannot help but think of Revelation 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

In the ancient world olives were used as both a food and energy crop- just like corn is now.