The Sietch Blog

Feb 24
Let Them Eat Cake

Written by Rt

I know this topic has been covered before but I feel so strongly that I need to give it more ink. This is one of the reasons I am against subsidies, they create an artificial market. This also illustrates how the consumption by the industrial world impacts the lives of other people. We too feel the impact of higher food prices but that is partially offset by lower fuel costs. People who make their food from materials like flour and corn meal really get kicked in the teeth.

Using plants to feed our fuel needs sounds like a great idea, and it could be a moneyspinner for some poor countries, but it might well mean people go hungry as food prices rise.

Experts are talking about a permanent change in food economics.

In the agricultural state of Iowa farmers say they are already giving up rotating corn and soya crops to focus on corn alone, which is now highly lucrative as a material for biofuel production.

Soaring U.S. demand for ethanol - produced from crops like maize and sugar cane - has sent corn prices to their highest level in a decade.

Mexicans are already feeling the impact. Tens of thousands took to the streets in January when the price of tortillas tripled to 15 pesos ($1.36) a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) - about 35 of the flat corn patties that are Mexico’s staple food.

Since half of Mexico lives on $5 a day or less, that’s no small jump, and the Mexican president - who generally presents himself as a champion of free trade - stepped in to cap prices at 78 cents a kilo.

China has gone on to become the world’s third-largest bio-ethanol producer after Brazil and the United States, according to Singapore’s Today newspaper.

Economic boomers China and India want to be self-sufficient in fuel, but they also want to be able to feed themselves.

And China’s expanding middle classes want to eat more meat, which requires grain production for feed, which is also pushing up food prices.

Is it possible to produce fodder for biofuels without taking land away from food production or chopping down forests? Sometimes.

Malawi, in southern Africa, is planting jatropha trees for biodiesel on plantations formerly cultivated for tobacco, according to alternative news agency Panos. Jatrophas - which grow even in poor soil and are touted as a good antidote to erosion - yield a watery rubber when cut.

As you may know my choice is algae. It requires no arable land and can consume waste CO2 from existing processes like breweries and electrical power plants. In any case, it is important that a balancing act is performed to keep from pricing poor people out of existence just to fuel the rich.