4 replies to this topic

[Rogerdodger]

As I have often stated, I think this ethanol craze is foolish on many levels.
Feeding people is one reason.

Inflation hits ice cream, pizza and chocolate.

What's the connection between ethanol, the biofuel produced from corn, and a cherry vanilla ice-cream?

Answer: the first is responsible for pushing up the price of the other.


The squeeze on ice-cream makers, chocolate manufacturers and pizza companies – all of whom use dairy produce as a raw material – is set to tighten as the price of a gallon of milk in the US – up 55 per cent in the past 12 months in some American states – is now the same as a gallon of petrol, with dairy prices accelerating faster than the cost of fuel.

Prices for dairy products have also risen because of increasing demand from China and the Middle East along with the drought in Australia, reduced subsidies in the European Union and the rocketing cost of corn.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 15 July 2007 - 11:27 PM.

[Rogerdodger]

UN warns it cannot afford to feed the world
By Javier Blas and Jenny Wiggins in London

Published: July 15 2007 22:01 | Last updated: July 15 2007 22:01

Rising prices for food have led the United Nations programme fighting famine in Africa and other regions to warn that it can no longer afford to feed the 90m people it has helped for each of the past five years on its budget.




The WFP said its purchasing costs had risen “almost 50 per cent in the last five years”. The UN organisation said the price it pays for maize had risen up to 120 per cent in the past sixth months in some countries.

Biofuel demand is soaking up grain production as is rising consumption in emerging countries for animal feed.

“We face the tightest agriculture markets in decades and, in same cases, on record,” Ms Sheeran said. Global wheat stocks have fallen to the lowest level in 25 years, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Ms Sheeran added: “We are no longer in a surplus world.”

[selecto]

All the food is going into the gas tank.

The amount of grain required to fill one SUV tank with ethanol would feed one person in a developing nation for a year.

[pdx5]

Watch out for the hungry SUV drivers with bio-diesel in the tank but have not been able to fill the belly. Road rage comes to mind.

[Sentient Being]

It's politically correct to do this so it doesn't have to be good for humanity. Just think how much better you will feel once all the farm land is used to create fuel and all your income is taken as a global warming tax!

Edited by Sentient Being, 16 July 2007 - 07:43 AM.