Re: Let's hear it for biofuels..................the panacea..........

On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:54:00 -0700 (PDT), in uk.politics.misc, in
thread Re: Let's hear it for biofuels..................the
panacea.........., Mel Rowing <mel.rowing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, wrote

On Apr 30, 4:08 pm, aracari <spamt...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:14:40 -0700 (PDT)  'Mel Rowing'
wrote this on uk.politics.misc:





On Apr 29, 5:34 pm, FACE <AFaceInTheCr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
~~~~~~~~~
"The failure to reduce oil dependence is not the only flaw in the
ethanol program. It also has driven food prices disturbingly high. The
World Food Program is warning that the upward pressure on food prices is
likely to lead to a silent tsunami of hunger. Josette Sheeran, the
program’s executive director, warned that  "The price of rice has more
than doubled in the last five weeks".

Err ...

Rice is not used for ethanol production unless one includes Saki.
Neither is wheat in any quantity.

Maize is the most economical source. Significant quantities of barley
are turned into ethanol but not for use as biofuel.

Sugar cane is a far richer source of biofuel than maize. Brazil has
been producing ethanol from it for years. The problem today is that
it's now becoming big business and large swathes of the Amazon are
being hacked down to make way for new sugar cane plantations. Also,
significant areas of São Paulo State's farming is being given over
to sugar cane in place of human food crops.

This no doubt so!

Amazon rain forest is cleared for all sorts of agricultural purposes
growing soya, growing beef being amongst them.
It represents free land. Need any more be said.

Despite the fact that food is a vital need farmers find it difficult
to make a living. The populations of certain regions tend towards
obesity yet many go without. It's a question of inequalities of wealth
and income rather than scarcity of arable land that seems to be the
problem. In fact in countries where the agricultural sector makes up a
greater proportion of the overall economy the problem of malnutrition
is worse and hence the headlong rush towards industrialisation in such
countries of Asia. That's where wealth lies!

1*****
In is in these peasant economies that agricultural practices tend to
be amongst the most inefficient globally despite the fact that
agricutural potential in terms of weather (growing season) are more
advantageous.
1*****

2****
Perhaps if land were put to an additional use then food market prices
would rise, farmers everywhere could earn a better living, gluttons
would become slimmer and more resources would become available for the
development and capitalisation of agricultural business where
appropriate.
2****

1 -- And when the agricultural practices are highly efficient, you have
things like the seventies' farms of Zimbabwe and South Africa that are
highly productive and make the areas 'breadbaskets' but will engender
claims of foreign exploitation, colonization by economic usurpation,
etc........
Too often, native mindsets tend to run to subsistence farming.

2 -- That has to be one of the most novel and creative arguments for an
increase in food prices that I have seen. :-)

FACE


.

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