by Colin Tudge, Tuesday July 31, 2007 – The Guardian
At a farm near my home in Oxfordshire, 50 sheep died in last week’s floods. Another farm, where the locals buy pick-your-own strawberries, asparagus and broad beans, has almost certainly lost its entire ...
German grain trading house Toepfer International, a unit of US agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland Co. states that grain and oilseed prices will remain high due to rising grain production for biofuels.
“As simultaneously demand for food and animal feed continues to rise, above all in rapidly developing countries including China and India, all market participants, especially processing companies, must prepare themselves for a long phase of relatively high prices for agricultural commodities.”
The European Union reports that by 2020, Europe will divert 18% of its cereal crops for biofuel production.
Germany has drafted rules for the cultivation of GMO crops, including a buffer zone of 150m between GMOs and conventional crops and 300m between GMOs and organic crops.
Under this rule, farmers may also be liable to pay a fine if neighbouring fields are tainted with more than 0.9% GMO content.
“Scientists say research into a new generation of biofuel sources could yield cheap energy supplies that do not compete with food crops – or with nature – for water or space.” These include willow, hemp and switchgrass.
India’s senior government official announces the need for transgenic crops, crops that can provide more food on less land, to the growing population. However, some fear that this will threaten the environment and human health.
A new study by Nobel prize winning chemist Paul J. Crutzen reports that modern farming methods used to grow biofuels in the United States and Europe actually release more greenhouse gases than they save.
“Plans by China and India to raise biofuels production from irrigated maize and sugarcane could aggravate water shortages and undermine food output, an international report said on Thursday.”
A really interesting chart and accompanying article that outlines some of the factors that determine the utility of developing certain crops to be used for biofuel production. An important appendage to any discourse surrounding the expansion of the current market, which sits in a mild disaster.
Zimbabwe, like many nations, is beginning to show signs of the onset of global warming, suggesting that countries will experience the effects of climate change at different rates.
Zimbabwe: Country At Risk of Climate Change Effects