Rising food prices linked to demand for biofuel

Well, duh, right? Which is why I’ve never been in favor of growing food crops using petrochemical fertilizers and petrochemical intensive harvesting methods as a means of weaning our reliance on petrochemicals…

Rising food prices spark riots around the world
Focus on world food prices, market woes

The development group Oxfam, a frequent IMF critic, said rich countries are largely responsible for the food crisis because they have been cutting aid to developing countries and encouraging biofuel production, which the IMF says is responsible for almost half the increase in the demand for food crops.

“Rich countries demand for biofuel is driving up food prices and is a big part of the problem,” said Elizabeth Stuart, an Oxfam policy adviser. “Meanwhile, by cutting aid levels, they are doing precious little to be part of the solution.”

Germany’s development minister urged greater regulation of the global biofuels market to prevent its expansion from driving up food prices. “It is unacceptable for the export of agrofuels to pose a threat to the supply situation of the very people already living in poverty,” Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said in a statement.

Now is when growing your own spirulina (@ 40x the protein yield per acre of soybeans) starts looking better and better, huh? Especially since spirulina and tomatoes together will meet the US RDA.
That and algaes as biofuel.

A few links from the past

Global food supply near the breaking point
MUD POT SPIRULINA CULTIVATION
Grow your own spirulina
Turning green algae into green power

Tags: solutions, algae, spirulina, biofuels, petrochemicals, food, hunger