Biofuels should not be considered a theat anymore as FAO Director, Graziano Da Silva, claimed yesterday in Berlin at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture.
Increasing competition for natural resource and emerging resource bottlenecks mean that global agriculture can no longer operate using a “business as usual” approach – the input-intensive agricultural development model used for the past 40 years is no longer sustainable, and a “paradigm shift” in food production is needed.
The topic of the forum this year is The Growing Demand for Food, Raw Materials and Energy: Opportunities for Agriculture, Challenges for Food Security?
Graziano Da Silva referred to biofuel vs food debate in this Forum yesterday: “We need to move from the food versus fuel debate to a food and fuel debate. There is no question: food comes first,” he said, adding: “But biofuels should not be simply seen as a threat or as a magical solution. Like anything else, they can do good or bad.”
“Business as usual would mean a huge and simultaneous increase in the need for food, energy and water in the next decades: 60 percent more food, 50 percent more energy and 40 percent more water by 2050,” Graziano da Silva said during his remarks.
Evidence shows that when developed responsibly, sustainable biofuel production systems can offer an additional source of income for poor farmers.
FAO estimates point to the need to increase food production by 60 percent by 2050 to feed a population that will top the 9 billion mark.
The FAO Director-General noted that thanks to experience gained in recent years and new biofuel production technologies, countries today are better positioned to evaluate the opportunities and risks of biofuel production and to use it when it pays off socially, environmentally and economically.
He also stressed that in order to avoid conflicts with food production, mandatory biofuel policies must be flexible and “need to be adjusted according to the reality, the ongoing balance of production, and stocks of the different products used.”
To address the challenge of feeding more people while using less land, water and energy, concerted efforts and investments are needed to support a widespread, globe-spanning transition to sustainable farming systems and land management practices, according to FAO’s Director-General.
Source: FAO (http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/275009/icode/)
The food vs fuel debate shouldn’t be a debate in the first place. Studies have shown that crops for Bioenergy for example: Corn, isn’t used as much for human consumption but is used more for animal feed. …so, what about the animals? Let’s do what’s best for them as well and feed them grasses instead of grain!
And now, finally, this red-herring issue is over, after creating untold misery for thousands of workers and hundreds of company in the biofuel field for over 10 years.
Such a shame that exactly the same arguments against the “issue” were not heard 10 years ago.
The damage to the biofuel industry and to the planet cannot be underestimated.
The debate from biofuel vs food to biofuel and food may still be confusing. There are some bioenergy technologies that can meet both food and biofuel, such as biogas and biofuel from waste straw. A circle of biofuel and food can be: crops —> food+straw—> fermentation (anaerobic digestion)—> biofuel or biogas —> digestate (fertilizer)—-> Crops.
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fenrg.2014.00010/abstract
While many have subscribed to expensive wasteful food oil and fuel oil manufacturing methods we have consistently sought to promote a waste free bio fuel and Lowered Calorific value food oil program that can also lead to bio lubricants, bio plastics and many triglycerides of modified structure that have many high potential utility. All potentially 100% biologically arrived at. All of the EC countries need to embrace improved agricultural architecture, new complex regional Biorefinery operations and a serious will to establish bioeconomy.