This briefing paper reviews evidence of the impacts of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on food prices, with a focus on corn and soy, and presents new analysis on the impact of the RFS on U.S. livestock farmers. Studies examining the relationship between food prices and biofuel demand conclude …
FAO forecast of generally tight situation for most crops and commodities over next 18 months. Consumers are unlikely to get relief from high food prices till December 2012, despite a modest increase in global foodgrain production. High and volatile agricultural commodity prices are likely to prevail for the rest of …
Slowing deforestation and greater awareness of the value of standing trees may come too late to save the world's biggest rainforests, according to a global assessment of tropical forests published Tuesday. Tropical forests are threatened by pressures to clear land to produce food and biofuels and to plant fast-growing trees …
Milan World cereals output is expected to rise to a new record in 2011 due to more planting and improved yields but low stocks are set to keep prices high, the United Nations
Brazil's government unveiled new financing and other incentives for sugar cane ethanol production on Monday, vowing to work closely with the private sector to boost production in an industry that has struggled recently despite its immense promise. The state-run development bank BNDES announced that it would provide 30 billion to …
Scientists in Australia claim that they are developing a new and more powerful bio-fuel from feedstock - raw materials for the paper industry - which could fuel the aviation industry in the not too distant future. A team at the University of Sydney, led by Professor Thomas Maschmeyer, behind the …
Changes in developed country biofuel policy are some of the key recommendations of an intergovernmental organization report to the G20, a group of leading economies. This paper provides in-depth analysis on the relationship between biofuel policy in the US and food price volatility. In addition, it identifies options that are …
The question of whether biofuels help mitigate climate change has attracted much debate in the literature. Using a global computable general equilibrium model that explicitly represents land-use change impacts due to the expansion of biofuels, this study attempts to shed some light on this question. The study shows that if …
As the impacts of climate change escalate, efforts to develop new technologies and new approaches to reducing emissions are promoted. One proposal is to sequester carbon in soils using biochar. Biochar is essentially fine grained charcoal. Advocates claim that adding biochar to soils will store carbon safely away from the …
The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2011-2020 says that a good harvest in the coming months should push commodity prices down from the extreme levels seen earlier this year. However, the Outlook states that over the coming decade real prices for cereals could average as much as 20 percent higher and those …
India offers a conducive environment for accelerating the use and internalisation of bioenergy technologies (BETs). Nearly 25% of its primary energy comes from biomass resources, and close to 70% of rural population depend on biomass to meet their daily energy needs. India has over two decades of experience in demonstrating …
The approach taken in this report reflects the view of the collaborating international organisations that price volatility and its effects on food security is a complex issue with many dimensions, agricultural and non-agricultural, short and long-term, with highly differentiated impacts on consumers and producers in developed and developing countries. The …
Drought will sharply cut the rapeseed harvest in Germany, which produces about a quarter of the European Union's crop, and is likely to force biodiesel producers to cut output. About 75 percent of Germany's rapeseed is used by its biodiesel industry, the largest in the EU. "The biodiesel producers must …
Colombia plans to nearly double agricultural land growing crops for food and biofuel, part of a new investment boom in the country as violence ebbs from a decades-long internal conflict fueled by drug profits. The idea is to transform the vast eastern plains, dotted for years with illicit coca plantations, …
Expansion of global demand for soy products and biofuel poses threats to food security and the environment. One environmental impact that has raised serious concerns is loss of Amazonian forest through indirect land use change (ILUC), whereby mechanized agriculture encroaches on existing pastures, displacing them to the frontier. This phenomenon …
Wood fuel, one of the oldest energy sources on the planet, could become the newest commodity market if it can overcome supply limits and green concerns as demand grows for renewable energy. Supply constraints are starting to put wood fuel into competition with the paper industry, experts say, in an …
A divisive European debate over the green credentials of biofuels has stalled investment, but the stalemate may soon be over for advanced biofuels and some types of bioethanol. The debate over biodiesel, however, looks set to rage on. After a two-year investigation, the European Commission has decided that the complex …
German drivers are reluctant to buy a new gasoline blend with a higher biofuel content, the country's oil industry association said on Friday. Germany this year raised the maximum permitted level of bioethanol blended in gasoline to 10 percent from 5 percent as part of Germany's programme to protect the …
Selling water on exchanges in the same way other commodities are traded could help solve a shortage of the world's most precious raw material likely to hit long before oil runs dry, the chairman of Nestle said on Tuesday. "I am not against the idea," Peter Brabeck, chairman of the …
Mysore, Home and Transport Minister R Ashoka urged the Union Government to grant permission to use biofuels. Welcome: Home and Transport Minister R Ashoka welcoming a passenger to board a bus headed to Kuvempunagar as part of Bus Day celebrations, in Mysore on Monday. MUDA Chairman L Nagendra and others …
Close to 80 percent of the world‘s energy supply could be met by renewables by mid-century if backed by the right enabling public policies says this new report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Close to 80 percent of the world‘s energy supply could be met by renewables by mid-century …
