Corn, oil and hunger
A trio of recent dots from the news stream that practically yell out to be connected:
+ The UN reported this week that rising food prices are pushing 100 million people even deeper into hunger. In response, Gordon Brown called hunger a "moral challenge."
+ Prices are starting to get so high that traditionally GM-food-phobic markets such as the EU are starting to warm to biotech crops.
+ Oil prices rose to a record high of almost $120 a barrel on Tuesday. As oil prices go up, ethanol becomes more attractive. And where does almost all of the ethanol in the US come from? Corn. In fact, about a third of US corn now goes to ethanol production, a trend which analysts say is pushing up food costs around the world.
-Greg Dahlmann
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In the flurry to blame biofuels for this hunger crisis, I hope people remember that grain ethanol is not the only one. Biomass and waste derived biofuels remain viable options.
- by Anastasia on Apr 22, 2008 at 11:11 PM | link
The blame will fit to some extent until the US starts to really push leave crop sources rather than food sources.
But the award for silliets argument goes to Cogressman King who illustrated how the horse slaughter ban was a mistake by saying the extra unwanted horses would eat 1 billion dollars worth of biofuel. I am boggled he ever managed to consider those dots connectable.
- by rattitude on Apr 23, 2008 at 2:35 PM | link