Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis

www.guardian.co.uk

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 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.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well... here we are all excited about the prospect of a semi-renewable fuel source all the while thinking that soaring global fuel prices are the cause for our more expensive food.

Nice to know some more 'behind-the-scenes' information.

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm not at all surprised. It was quite obvious this would happen from the very beginning that 10% ethanol was made the standard in gas stations.

If you're a farmer growing a variety of crops i.e. corn, wheat etc. One vegetable only pays you lets say 10 cents a lb while the other you're offered $1 a lb. Which crop are you going to focus on growing the most of?

Nice find. I think anyone with half a brain has figured this out already but it is nice to see the Guardian has picked it up and run the story so everyone can be enlightened to the truth. It makes absolutely no sense to use food as a fuel source. There are over six billion ppl on this planet and a mojor source of alternative energy is coming from food. How many ppl are starving and dieing every day because there are food shortages around the world? And to think the US government supports the production of this "clean fuel" and even subsidizes it.

I call bs.

You'd think that the people who did the research into biofuel would've thought of this, and warned their superiors of the possible ramifications in safeguards were not in place.

Obviously, no one put those safeguards in place.

This is b.s.!

We don't even need "food" to make bio-fuels! We can make it off of algae!

I bought a truck in 2007 that was E85 Ethanol capable, and there is 1 entire gas station in southern California that even has E85. Talk about waste of money!

I think the banks are finding any stupid excuse they can to rip us off.

en.wikipedia.org...

Bunch of greedy fools!

[edit on 4-7-2008 by ALLis0NE]

reply to post by ALLis0NE


Algae could be one and you can use tallow to make biodiesel which has no impact on food prices. There are tons of ways to make bio fuels that do not involve a food source so hopefully they figure it out soon.

[edit on 4-7-2008 by bakednutz]

the algae promise has yet to materialize.

sure, on paper it's superior, in effect its yields will probably be a lot lower than under lab conditions and more importantly, NO-ONE IS USING IT.

take a gander at

www.abovetopsecret.com...

all burning corn. don't think they'll stop anytime soon, because these factories have to be paid off, which means 20 years of voracious corn consumption, or gov't bailouts.

there's really no option but to stop it now or the situation will only become more hopeless, for no gain, because there is no greenhouse gas bonus and even if there was, reduced land use would be preferrable.


www.abovetopsecret.com...


imagine you were on the receiving side of this kind of starvation warfare, would you start to hate the people who're driving around with your food? this is an issue that goes beyond financial aspects, it's a matter of life and death.

[edit on 2008.7.4 by Long Lance]

This was foreseen by many people but, as tends to happen, they were drowned out by the "man-made global warming" mantra at the time.

Add to the mix those pesky old stock speculators, pushing up the price of the fuel crops on increased demand due to government legislation, then also pushing up the price of the now scarcer food crops. They must be laughing all the way to the bank while people are, at the very least, paying more for food or in extreme examples, starving.

Originally posted by Britguy
This was foreseen by many people but, as tends to happen, they were drowned out by the "man-made global warming" mantra at the time.

Then why were safeguards not in place?

Think.

reply to post by Anti-Tyrant


Safeguards were not in place because there was, and still is, a lot of money to be made, and that always trumps responsibility.

reply to post by Britguy


Correct.

And there we have a reasonable explanation.

Now then, why the **** can't people see this?

Well if you look at the price of corn, an all time high, and the crops were good.
Corn Ethanol is responsible.Coupled with the high oil price, they need more Ethanol to water down the fuel.
Apparently the cost of making Ethanol out of corn, the process itself, is cheaper than making it out of sugar cane, which of course we need less of and the price isn't all that high.
Perhaps they should put a ban on making Corn ethanol, because corn is a staple food to maintain human existence and shouldnt be wasted on making fuels.
And only allow it to be made from Sugar cane.
But then that would just create higher petroleum costs due to the longer more expensive process to make the ethanol.

reply to post by Being_From_Earth


sugar cane will then displace food crops in southern Brazil, which will then drive agriculture into rainforests.

all in the name of global warming, cut down and burn the forests, yay. do you feel good about your green thumb already? consider the impact on local societies, displaced and 'replaced' by large scale industrial agriculture driven by a subsidized, quality-free market.

see www.abovetopsecret.com...

and

www.abovetopsecret.com...

from the same thread. note that i wrote these posts more than a year ago, so this was most definitely forseen and i dare say, planned. next will be a push for GM crops, with even more catastrophic results, if my predictions are right:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

will you consider the predicted scenario this time? or will it take another year and MSM articles to convince you?

[edit on 2008.7.4 by Long Lance]

Biofuels are not the cause for the high food prices it is the weakening dollar. There is plenty of corn out there in fact check out this article...

online.wsj.com...

There is plenty of things like corn out there. Blame your food issues on governments who dont know how to manage money. Food prices are just keeping up with inflation thats all.

reply to post by mybigunit


nothing to see here, move along?

'keeping up with inflation' means doubling prices very year? not yet is all i can say to this.


if you're burning a third of the available corn, it does not matter if harvests are good. the idea that price will scale linearly with volume is not even naive. when demand outstrips supply, prices keep rising until both match, right? so, if there's artificially created demand for corn, subsidized to hell and back, combined with an ever increasing number of biofuel factories, what do you think will happen? demand is constantly outstripping supply, prices will keep rising until the practice is abandoned.

then, lack of corn or overpriced corn will make people substitute other crops, driving the entire food market into a rallye. or, to put it bluntly, by linking food and energy markets, the energy bubble becomes a food bubble, too.

Originally posted by Long Lance
reply to post by mybigunit

 

nothing to see here, move along?

'keeping up with inflation' means doubling prices very year? not yet is all i can say to this.


if you're burning a third of the available corn, it does not matter if harvests are good. the idea that price will scale linearly with volume is not even naive. when demand outstrips supply, prices keep rising until both match, right? so, if there's artificially created demand for corn, subsidized to hell and back, combined with an ever increasing number of biofuel factories, what do you think will happen? demand is constantly outstripping supply, prices will keep rising until the practice is abandoned.

then, lack of corn or overpriced corn will make people substitute other crops, driving the entire food market into a rallye. or, to put it bluntly, by linking food and energy markets, the energy bubble becomes a food bubble, too.

I wont disagree with you that part of the problem is a supply issue but most of it is a dollar issue that is why everything from gold to food to oil is going up. Your right the government tells the people exactly that...move along people no story here were are not killing the dollar its all ethanols fault. Bologna. Oil is subsidized also so I dont feel bad that ethanol gets a little grease also. If it was up to me however we would subsidize NONE of it. Let the private sector handle it. Until our government decides what its roll really should be in our country and this world we will have to pay the inflation tax. If we follow the constitution a lot of these problems wouldnt exist. The market would sort all of this out.

Originally posted by zarlaan
I'm not at all surprised. It was quite obvious this would happen from the very beginning that 10% ethanol was made the standard in gas stations.

If you're a farmer growing a variety of crops i.e. corn, wheat etc. One vegetable only pays you lets say 10 cents a lb while the other you're offered $1 a lb. Which crop are you going to focus on growing the most of?

Definitely fact! The amount of Rape seed being grown here as opposed to wheat or maize has exploded over the last few years.

Also, i was recently talking to an investor who told me that 3 years ago, he and a huge number of other investors had made a burst to buy/lease vast amounts of land in Argentina for growing of "food crops' because they had inside info saying that food prices would more than double between 2006 and 2010 which in turn would obviously lead to large investment returns. Mainly from selling to the Chinese market. The lax laws on GM in Argentina at the time also gave massive incentment ... but the main point being that this info was available to investors 3 years ago and we are still being blindsided on it now!

Originally posted by Dermo
.. but the main point being that this info was available to investors 3 years ago and we are still being blindsided on it now!

which basically confirms that this shortage is orchestrated, because the West went ahead withits biofuel expansion plans anyway.

Originally posted by Long Lance

which basically confirms that this shortage is orchestrated, because the West went ahead withits biofuel expansion plans anyway.

Possibly orchestrated, or else kept quiet so rich investors could gain even more because they new the basic grain market would end up in the same bubble as the fuel market..

You gotta love it.. Hardcore profiteering to the last! Could you go any lower than playing with peoples food sources for profit?