Skyrocketing Food Prices
A global think tank is issuing extremely dire warnings about food prices. The International Food Policy Research Institute is predicting prices across the globe for food will jump by 40 to 80 percent as more and more food is diverted to biofuel production.
Joachim von Braun, director-general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, said further crop yield improvements and increased efficiency of these alternative fuels were required if a global price shock were to be avoided.
Unless governments invest to improve farm productivity "so that we can cope with the increased demand for biofuels, the (food) prices may come up between 40 and 80 percent on top of what you can see," he told reporters on the sidelines of an agriculture and poverty conference here.
"If it's well managed and we have more investment in research and technology to bring up yield levels in the crops and improve the efficiency of biofuels, these price effects may only be between five and 15 percent. So it depends on government policy," he added.
Von Braun said that "globally, many countries have plans to scale up biofuel production in the order of covering 10-20 percent of their transport fuel," chiefly ethanol and biodiesel.
Brazil has committed to 25 percent while Europe plans to use biofuels for 10 percent of the countries' needs by 2020, he added.
In Asia, he said the picture was mixed, which China having announced plans to shut down some of its ethanol plants "because of the concern for using too much grain for them."
And counting on massive increases in crop yields and big advances in technology frankly fall into the "and then a miracle happens" school of science. In other words, it is a stupid way to try and manage change. China has already realized that they have a problem when their pork prices shot to record levels. Wait until this starts to bite the rest of the world.
Economy, Environment | Gaius Thursday, 9 August , 2007
By Steve, Thursday, 9 August , 2007 @ 5:39 pm
That’s what tax credits/breaks/incentives are for, silly.