USDA asserts biofuels play only minor role in high global food prices
Articles — By forcechange on June 10, 2008 10:43 am
Having written extensively about the potential downsides of biofuels, we wanted to highlight an announcement by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, asserting that ethanol is not having a “major” impact on the rapid increase in world food prices. According to the USDA, policies encouraging biofuel use account for only 3% of the more than 40% increase in world food prices last year. The rest of the increase in prices was attributed to things such as widespread drought, an increase in global food demand from booming populations, and high energy costs.
Whether the USDA’s numbers are accurate or not, apparently their analysis was limited to the price of food and did not address the claim that biofuel production and use may actually release more greenhouse gasses than gasoline. Nonetheless, if their analysis is accurate, it does seem to lessen one major argument against increased biofuel development.
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