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suspectnumber961 · 06-17-2011, 08:30 AM

A Quick Fix to the Food Crisis: Scientific American

The problem is therefore one of rapidly rising demand. Conventional wisdom points to Asia as the source, but that’s not so. China has contributed somewhat to tighter markets in recent years by importing more soybeans and cutting back on grain exports to build up its stocks, which should serve as a warning to policy makers for the future. But consumption in China and India is rising no faster than it has in previous decades. In general, Asia’s higher incomes have not triggered the surge in demand for food.

That starring role belongs to biofuels. Since 2004 biofuels from crops have almost doubled the rate of growth in global demand for grain and sugar and pushed up the yearly growth in demand for vegetable oil by around 40 percent. Even cassava is edging out other crops in Thailand because China uses it to make ethanol.

So every time you drive your car...someone else goes hungry? Don't you feel guilty?

06-17-2011, 08:30 AM	#1 (permalink)
suspectnumber961 EcoModding Alien Observer Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: I flitter here and there Posts: 547 highcountryexplorer - '86 Nissan 720 KC 4x4 ST with fiberglass cap 90 day: 21.78 mpg (US) Elroy - '03 Ford Focus ZX3 w/Zetec DOHC engine 90 day: 32.89 mpg (US) Thanks: 6 Thanked 78 Times in 65 Posts	Biofuels...food prices and political unrest.... A Quick Fix to the Food Crisis: Scientific American *The problem is therefore one of rapidly rising demand.* Conventional wisdom points to Asia as the source, but that’s not so. China has contributed somewhat to tighter markets in recent years by importing more soybeans and cutting back on grain exports to build up its stocks, which should serve as a warning to policy makers for the future. But consumption in China and India is rising no faster than it has in previous decades. In general, Asia’s higher incomes have not triggered the surge in demand for food. *That starring role belongs to biofuels.* Since 2004 biofuels from crops have almost doubled the rate of growth in global demand for grain and sugar and pushed up the yearly growth in demand for vegetable oil by around 40 percent. Even cassava is edging out other crops in Thailand because China uses it to make ethanol. So every time you drive your car...someone else goes hungry? Don't you feel guilty? __________________ *Carry on humans...we are extremely proud of you.* .................. Forty-six percent of Americans believe in the creationist view that God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years. GALLUP POLL