G8 Countries Use of Food as a Fuel Could Feed 441 Million People

Cohete Rojo · May 1, 2013

Agriculture products have more uses than just food and one of them is use as a fuel.

From Big Picture Agriculture blog:

ActionAid and other charities are meeting in the UK in June during the G8 summit, where they will ask David Cameron to take the lead in ending policies which use food for fuel. According to the group, 441 million people could be fed each year with the amount of food crops that are consumed as fuel by the G8 nations. As you can see in the chart, the U.S. is the culprit responsible for 76 percent of the G8′s farmland being diverted to fuel.
Click to expand...

Link to original report: http://www.actionaid.org.uk/doc_lib/fuelling_hunger.pdf

Is it worth subsidizing ethanol to replace MTBE in gasoline under the apparent guise of reducing man-made climate change, or for whatever reason such a subsidy exists? Not all food derived fuel is for ethanol but it has had some impact on prices and consumption.

Dairy Ashford · May 1, 2013

Maybe, but commercial food consumption doesn't have the levels of demand (both the desire and ability) to purchase that extra volume at profitable levels for farmers' extra production costs. Fuel grain gets consumed immediately in another commercial process that itself is profitable enough for the purchasers to pay similar pricing and subsidize the additional supply. Rotting, unwanted retail inventory in grain elevators or wholesale distribution centers doesn't.

rage · May 1, 2013

If I remember correctly, it's not the production of food, it's the transportation to get it to the right people at the right time, all the time.

Mr. Clutch · May 2, 2013

Thanks, environmentalists.

RedRedemption · May 2, 2013

If you are not subsidizing it then there is not enough incentive to produce that many.
People are forgetting that there is no such thing as charity (outside of giving away of personal wealth) in the free market in relation to businesses.
The existence of the subsidy itself means that incentive to produce is already low.

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G8 Countries Use of Food as a Fuel Could Feed 441 Million People

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