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As mentioned in our intro post, a core mission of the Green Fork is to create a space where many voices could gather to promote the work of activists, farmers, business owners and organizations. I’m pleased today to introduce the first of our guest posters, Dulce Fernandes.

Dulce serves as the Associate Director for the Network for New Energy Choices, and recently co-authored a report on biofuels called The Rush to Ethanol: Not All Biofuels are Created Equal. This entry was originally posted on the NNEC blog.

Rising consumer prices at home and abroad, imposition of barriers to commodity exports, and food riots in several countries, have all contributed to the escalating tone of the food versus fuel debate. Echoing across the world this week was a heated discussion about the role of the growing diversion of feedstocks like corn and sugar cane into the production of biofuels, with farmers, industry representatives, U.S. Congress and the United Nations (UN) pondering the causes of record food prices. Stephen Colbert has even delved into this complex issue, and rather effectively, in search of a ‘kernel of truth.’

Because the production of biofuel feedstocks uses the same inputs as food production – land, seeds, fertilizers – there is an increasing sense that growing crops to burn in cars and SUV’s tanks is in direct competition with grocery shopping and, even more problematic, feeding the poor worldwide. The signs seem to be everywhere: in the U.S., consumers feel the pain in the higher prices of bread or milk; violent food-related protests have erupted in Haiti; similar disturbances have occurred in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Indonesia in the past month; and in Pakistan and Thailand troops have been deployed to avoid the seizure of food from warehouses.

At the center of the debate is the controversy about exactly how much do biofuels contribute to the increases in food prices and there is no agreement on the numbers – while the ethanol industry says it accounts for only 4 percent, the Department of Agriculture says the figure is closer to 20 percent, and international aid groups, including the World Bank, say ethanol accounts for a much larger portion of the food price increase.

Among those pointing fingers at biofuels as a main cause for the food price hike is the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler. “Bioethanol is one of the reasons why food prices have exploded. Last year the US burned 138 million tons of maize and transformed it into bioethanol and biodiesel,” he said recently. “Burning food today, so as to serve the mobility of the rich countries, is a crime against humanity.”

On the opposing side, President Lula from Brazil – a country at the center of the debate because of its significance as both a food and ethanol producer and exporter – is a strong backer of biofuels. “The real crime against humanity would be to just cast aside biofuels and push countries struggling with food and energy shortages towards dependency and insecurity,” Lula as recently pointed out.

Others point to the high prices of oil, now well over $100 a barrel, for the rise of production costs and consequent food inflation in the global markets. Likewise, growing demand in China and India fueled by their economic boom and associated eating habits, is also mentioned as a main factor in the worldwide spike of food prices. With more money in their pockets, the rising middle class in Asia is now consuming more meat and dairy products, with effects on the global commodities markets.

But whatever the share of biofuels’ blame in the current food crisis, the fact is that the federal mandates to produce ethanol and biodiesel are the only factor that can be affected by political action. In December 2007, Congress passed an energy bill that mandates a fivefold increase in ethanol production by 2022. About 20 per cent of US corn goes into ethanol production and that share is set to increase to some 45 percent in the next seven years, according to the Department of Agriculture. Even if oil prices, Chinese changing diets or low stocks of grain are among the main causes of the recent food market disruptions, a moratorium on the increase of the biofuels targets in the U.S. would constitute significant relief in the food versus fuel competition.