Soybean Growers Help Dispel Ethanol, Biodiesel Myths
Battling the myths and misinformation that swirl around both ethanol and biodiesel seems to be a fulltime job these days. While some groups, such as the American Soybean Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, fight these battles daily, they could use a little help from the novices and those interested in the success of biofuels. That’s why the ASA is giving them the tools to beat back those naysayers against the green fuels.
The ASA has created the document called “Myths and Realities Behind Rising Food Prices“:
Anyone who buys groceries or eats in a restaurant knows that food prices have increased, but few people truly understand the global factors that are driving the present situation…
All things considered, the demand for biofuels has played a relatively small role in rising food prices. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, the primary reasons underlying the escalation in food prices are an explosion in energy costs driven largely by the price of petroleum, the surging demand for food and livestock feed from a growing and increasingly prosperous middle class in countries like China and India, drought and other weather patterns that reduced yields in numerous regions of the world, the declining value of the U.S. dollar, and export restrictions imposed by some countries.
Higher energy prices have greatly added to the costs of transporting, processing, manufacturing, storing and distributing the food we eat. Higher energy prices also have dramatically increased the prices U.S. farmers are paying for the inputs they need to plant, grow and harvest their crops. Compared to just two years ago, farmers today are paying twice as much for the diesel fuel they need to run their tractors, combines and grain trucks. Fertilizer, which requires a great deal of energy to produce, has quadrupled in price.
The fact sheet goes on to point out how, worldwide, ethanol and biodiesel have cut the amount of non-renewable petroleum crude oil by a million barrels a day… saving the world $43 billion in savings each year.
My suggestion is to print out the fact sheet and have it ready the next time some loud-mouthed, Big-Oil backer starts bashing biofuels. Then, you can bash back with FACTS!
9 Comments »
Corny
It is almost not worth responding to your crap but I will. To all the THINKING people out there consider this; turning a finite supply (Food or feed) to satisfy a infinite demand (Fuel) is insane!
Daniel
If you really were thinking you would realize that a petroleum supply also represents a finite quantity and the fuel demand is finite as well. You really should question the validity of all the criticism that ethanol has been getting(probably being perpetuated by people with secret ties to oil). A study from a well respected energy monitoring agency has estimated that the increased ethanol supply has already offset the price of gasoline by fifty cents per gallon. If you knew the slighest about large scale crop production you would know that farming costs have raised about five times what they were because of petroleum costs. Hence, higher food prices(oh, you must not have been THINKING again.) The goal from the start was to move from food based ethanol to cellulosic based, which is being done rather quickly(search Range Fuels and others). No one said the problem would be solved overnight, these things take time. For everyone complaining I ask what are you doing or what would you have done to help solve the problem. I just dont see any harm in having ALTERNATIVES, to keep prices at reasonable levels. That is why we are paying four dollars a gallon for gas, we dont have an option.
NY
Whatever the reasons for the increase in food prices (and biofuels undoubtedly contribute to this), it is reprehensible to continue burning corn while people around the world are starving to death.
http://www.bahaiperspectives.com/current-affairs/2008/07/31/coco-jambo/
YillHorp
I’ve heard otherwise – a study by the Dept. of Energy noted that ethanol does not have any effect on food price increases..ethanol is a great way to help stem this fuel crisis, and we should do all we can to promote ethanol as a form of alternative energy.
Dwane Hemphill
The critical problem of feeding people of the world is more of a transportation problem than a food availablity problem. Solve the transportation problem(s) & the American farmer with just a little help from around the world can feed the world! In fact I would bet there would be a worldwide surplus in 5 years!!!
NY
It saddens me to read 4 and 5. I’m originally from Africa, where I would see hungry people on an almost daily basis – and I lived in a relatively well-developed area. YillHorp, I would seriously question the impartiality of the study you cite (Dept of Energy, please). The UN may not be perfect but it holds a bit more weight for me:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7065061.stm
Dwane, come on. If the same countries can easily go about making trade with the third world, then transportation clearly isn’t an issue.
It’s all about selfish national interests coming first, and I fear that unless we begin to adopt a greater world view, these issues will come back to hurt everyone in a big way.
Cindy Zimmerman
Transportation costs are clearly an issue when it comes to food aid, but a bigger issue when it comes to actually getting food to the people who need it is corrupt governments and infrastructure issues.
NY
With all due respect, from an ethical standpoint these are shallow excuses, nor do I believe they are necessarily valid. Believe it or not, some third world governments actually care for their people. To burn corn that would otherwise feed a billion human beings for a year is a tragedy, regardless of the justifications we make to convince ourselves otherwise.
Switch to efficient non-food alternatives if needs be, but for goodness sake stop converting all this precious corn to smoke.
BC
Oh please, enough with this ‘precious corn” BS. Corn isn’t even a good food source.
FACT: less than 1% of corn grown in the USA is for human consumption.
FACT; feed corn is used for ethanol production, and is not edible (indigestible) by humans.
FACT: the by-product from ethanol production is – ANIMAL FEED.
The more ethanol production increases, the more byproduct -ANIMAL FEED- is produced.
Ethanol uses only the starch from hybrid animal feed corn crops, leaving the protein and fibers to be further processed into animal feed.
Ethanol production takes NOTHING from food production.
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