Biofuel production 'starves the poor' - MSN Environment UK

I've to activate this blog about biofuels and bioenergy. The summer is over and it's time to think about the plus and minuses about biofuel programs. Below is a point of view from UK.

Biofuel production 'starves the poor' - MSN Environment UK: "Biofuel production is fuelling poverty, human rights abuses and damage to the environment, Christian Aid has warned.

The charity said huge subsidies and targets in developed countries for boosting the production of fuels from plants such as maize and oil palm are exacerbating environmental and social problems in poor nations.

Helge: USA is using corn and the Finnish Neste Oil imports palm oil for biodiesel production in Finland.

And rather than being a 'silver bullet' to tackle climate change, the carbon emissions of some of the fuels are higher than fossil fuels because of deforestation driven by the need for land for them to grow.

Helge: There isn't enough space available...

According to a report, Growing Pains, by Christian Aid, industrial scale production of biofuels is worsening problems such as food price hikes in central America, forced displacement of small farmers for plantations and pollution of local water sources.

Helge: Food price rises in Mexico.

But with 2.4 billion people worldwide currently without secure sources of energy for cooking and heating, Christian Aid believes the renewable fuels do have the potential to help the poor.

The charity highlights schemes such as the growing of jatropha in Mali, where the plant is raised between food crops and the oil from the seeds is used to run village generators which can power appliances such as stoves and lights.

The report argues that talking about 'good' or 'bad' biofuels is oversimplifying the situation, and the problem is not with the crop or fuel - but the policies surrounding them.

Developed countries have poured subsidies into biofuel production - for example in the US where between 9.2 billion dollars and 11 billion dollars went to supporting maize-based ethanol in 2008 - when there are cheaper and more effective ways to cut emissions from transport, the report said.

The charity said biofuels production needed a 'new vision' - a switch from supplying significant quantities of transport fuel for industrial markets to helping poor people have access to clean energy.

The report's author Eliot Whittington, climate advocacy specialist for Christian Aid, said: 'Vast sums of European and American taxpayers' money are being used to prop up industries which are fuelling hunger, severe human rights abuses and environmental destruction - and failing to deliver the benefits claimed for them."

Civil Eats » Blog Archive » Obama Gives Thoughts on Michael Pollan’s Times Magazine Letter

I got a link through Twitter. Food is a much bigger issue than we tend to think.

Civil Eats » Blog Archive » Obama Gives Thoughts on Michael Pollan’s Times Magazine Letter: "In an interview with Joe Klein of Time Magazine today, Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged the brilliant letter to the next president by Michael Pollan and said that agriculture is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, is a national security risk, and is built on cheap oil:

“I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollan about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it’s creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they’re contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs. That’s just one sector of the economy. You think about the same thing is true on transportation. The same thing is true on how we construct our buildings. The same is true across the board. For us to say we are just going to completely revamp how we use energy in a way that deals with climate change, deals with national security and drives our economy, that’s going to be my number one priority when I get into office, assuming, obviously, that we have done enough to just stabilize the immediate economic situation.”

We are what we eat

For all of us, the most important thing about our daily food is that it should be safe. In recent years we have seen an increase in the number of food scares across Europe.

1. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
2. Transmissible spongiform ecephalopathies (TSEs)
3. Dioxins
4. A whole host of microbial horrors as listeria and salmonella
5. Avia flu

All these shake the confidence of citizens in the ability of the food industry to guarantee food safety.

Several factors influence the rise. An increased globalization of supply provides for a wider variety of produce on our shelves, but also increases the risk of poorer control over the quality and the safety of goods.

Moreover, bulk buying and selling of produce places large sections of the population at risk when there is a threat of contamination at any stage of the food chain, from farm to processing to transportation and storage.

Another factor is the human exposure to chemical elements contained in food, whose source is much more difficult to trace.

This includes natural toxic products, such myotoxins, or a whole range of contaminants, originating in pesticides, mercury, lead, and radionucleides.

What can we learn from the food industry?

Finnish companies (food) keep records on the origin of raw materials, and production series are of reasonable size. This makes it possible to track the history of each product.

The Finnish food industry is small and well organized. Companies keep records on the origin of raw materials. This makes it possible to track history of each product, which is not always an option i mega-sized industries.

Companies like Raisio and Valio have developed food products for people with lactose intolerance, coeliac disease and allergies. Such companies and products are ideal for tracing connections between microbial toxins and raw materials, as well as manufacturing conditions.

Their contract farms could be used to track the effects of harvesting, storage and transport methods.

The Finnish paper industry, meanwhile, makes sophisticated products for specific purposes. Once research advances in food safety risks and the conditions that prevent such developments, purpose-designed food packaging could be designed.

While such targeted planning is crucial, we are going to need broad and sweeping new ideas and working methods.

Politicians, for instance, seek publicity by picking out one single threat instead of searching for broader solutions. This leads to unbalanced threat classification; threats are easily exaggerated or underestimated.

Unfortunately, the future we're interested in is too close to the present, too short-term. Perhaps we don't dare face all the future challenges that are already visible today.

globeandmail.com: Food or fuel? New technology offers both

globeandmail.com: Food or fuel? New technology offers both: "Food or fuel? New technology offers both IAN HARVEY Special to The Globe and Mail October 30, 2007 at 6:38 AM EDT In the 'food vs. fuel' debate about global crop usage, fuel may be winning.

Millions of bushels of corn are being diverted to ethanol production as gas-hungry countries scramble to offset the soaring cost of crude oil. As a result, grain and food prices are rising - a sign that quenching our thirst for fuel may spur hunger pangs along the way.

Chris Carl, founder and president of Toronto-based Bio-Extraction Inc. (BioExx), believes his company has a solution: A proprietary oil-extraction process that could hold the key to maintaining the balance between food and fuel needs.

Conventional oil-extraction methods for grains and other plants use petroleum-based solvents such as hexane and require high temperatures (up to 140 degrees) that denature the protein materials, rendering them unusable. The BioExx process, however, produces both oils and proteins.

The extracted oil - whether from corn, canola or soybeans - can be marketed for biofuels, while the protein can be sold as fish meal for the booming fish-farming market or as additives for animal feed."

Griffith Homepage

griffithHomepage: "Griffith Laboratories, established in 1919, is a global manufacturer of food ingredients. We provide a wide range of taste and texture components for customers throughout the world. Our customers include food processors, restaurant operators and grocery retailers. We combine consumer insight, industry experience, science and creativity to make the world's food better — and our customers' businesses more successful."

International Biotechnology Microbiology

digitalvillages Had a phone call about biotech future possibilities. With oil $100 barrel, new opportunities are rising, International Biotech Microbiology!

Yes, today has been intensive on the Internet. First visitors from Moskow, Russia. Inida is rising. I try to figure out why the Swedish map is relatively quiet. The examples and cases are from US and Finland.

I need to re-think the content. Paper Machines are receiving global attention. But, the food industry is the biggest industrial sector in Europe. I thought auto-manufacturing would be number one.

• The fact is, we still need more food, water, milk and cheese than autos
• Biocides for paper machines
• Bioreactors
• Nalco
• BMI
• Kemira