Good article. Also read Kamyar Enshayan's article in Sundays Register. Then read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Daryl On Jun 23, 2008, at 9:15 AM, Donna Buell wrote: > This came over the Sierra Club Agriculture Listserv – good summary, > I think. > Donna > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Agriculture Forum [mailto:CONS-SPST-AGRICULTURE- > [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Laurel Hopwood > Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 3:26 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Corn as fuel has hurt world food supply > > Corn as fuel has hurt world food supply > Newsday > by Andy Kimbrell, founder and executive director of the nonprofit > Center for Food Safety. > June 20, 2008 > edited > > According to this op ed, rising food prices are a hardship here at > home, but they're truly disastrous for many beyond our borders. The > staggering 83 percent rise in food prices reported by the World Bank > over the past three years hits developing nations hardest. It's a > complex situation with many causes, but the crisis is teaching us > important and urgent lessons. > > First among these is what we've learned about biofuels. Once > considered the "green" solution to foreign oil dependence, corn > ethanol has morphed into a humanitarian and environmental disaster. > Diverting one-quarter of America's massive corn harvest from food to > fuel has nearly crippled the globalized food system. A bushel of corn > fetches about three times the price it did two years ago, one big > reason for quadrupling tortilla prices in Mexico. Wheat and soybean > farmers, lured by higher profits, switched over to corn. As a result, > supplies of those crops are limited and wheat prices have risen an > astronomical 130 percent since 2007, exacerbated by poor Australian > harvests. > > If you thought corn ethanol was at least lessening our dependence on > foreign oil, think again: Ethanol displaces only 3 percent of our oil > use. Additionally, the journal "Science" recently published research > suggesting that biofuels are worsening global warming as well as > hunger. High demand for energy crops is driving deforestation, which > in turn releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases that far exceed > minor reductions provided by the energy crops themselves. > > Even those who embraced biofuels so enthusiastically a year ago are > beginning to see what a chimera they actually are. Until alternative > technologies are embraced, crop-based biofuels will continue to > deprive the hungry of desperately needed food. > > The second lesson: our industrialized approach to agriculture > essentially transforms fossil fuels into human food. Food production > American style consumes mountains of fossil-fuel-based fertilizers, > over half-a-billion pounds of petroleum-based pesticides, and millions > of gallons of fuel to drive farm equipment each year. Processing food > and getting it to market consumes still more. The cost of a pound of > beef, a gallon of milk or a box of cereal climbs ever higher, > entangled with the skyrocketing price of oil. > > A third lesson is that biotechnology can provide no solution. Biotech > firms are pushing the idea that genetically engineered, or GE, crops > will feed the world. But two decades of costly research has not > produced a single marketable GE crop with increased yield, > drought-resistance, enhanced nutrition or other attractive traits > touted by boosters. What has succeeded are "herbicide-tolerant" GE > varieties - engineered to survive application of weed killers - which > remarkably make up 81 percent of the world's biotech crops. Small > wonder that weed killer use is rising, and resistant weeds are > proliferating. > > To top it off, university studies show that Roundup Ready soybeans - > which make up more than half of all biotech crops - get 6 percent > lower yield than their conventional counterparts and are more > susceptible to drought. > > Despite these failures, government and biotechnology firms continue to > tout genetic engineering as a magic bullet. Meanwhile, hundreds of > conventional breeding and agroecological solutions remain > unimplemented, thanks to draconian cuts to public sector agricultural > development programs. > > Through the lens of this crisis, we also see the sense in buying > abundant, locally grown foods. Since they travel less and now cost > less than processed food or produce flown from across the globe, local > crops are looking more and more attractive. They're also fresher, more > healthful and more beneficial to consumers. And, in buying them, we > support local farmers. > > The food crisis is conjoined to the fuel crisis, and this has opened > our eyes to the flaws in our food production and distribution > practices. It has also, thankfully, pointed us in the direction of > real solutions - if we as consumers, policymakers and businesspeople > are bold enough to make the needed changes. > > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > To unsubscribe from the CONS-SPST-AGRICULTURE-FORUM list, send any > message to: > [log in to unmask] > > Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: > http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp > > > > . > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To > unsubsribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: IOWA- > [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv > Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/ > lists/faq.asp - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp