World food shortages are beginning to become a major topic. I was reading a newspaper covering Asia, and the article was blaming biofuels for food shortages in Asia. Say What! Asia's primary food source is rice. Are they making biofuels out of rice? Last I heard, corn, soybean, and sugar are the major food sources being used for biofuels, and old fryer grease, which the U.S. has no shortage of. Why are biofuels being blamed for the growing food shortage? The fix is in.

This growing food shortage was predicted by the site dieoff.com. It is scary how quickly this crisis is developing. What I have I read tries to blame biofuels, rather than the true relationship between oil prices and food prices.

Yes, the feverish attacks on biofuels seems to be rising. While I don't think they are the answer and they do seem to be a big waste of resources, I think you are correct. I have trouble connecting the dots on how Corn for ethanol is somehow affecting the rice market?

The real problem seems to be high fuel costs, but it seems that people are taking advantage of this to attack biofuels. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that big oil was helping to fuel the attacks.

There seems to be a mounted media effort to put a negative spin on biofuels. While corn isn't very efficient for ethanol production, sugar is very efficient and has a nice energy in verses energy out ratio. Also, from my understanding, so does soy diesel. If these biofuels are so ineffective, and lacking as a substitue for oil, why is the media so intent on downplaying this technology? Considering that soybeans are legumes that help to regenerate soil like peanuts, soy produced biodiesel should be highly promoted.

This food shortage is a very serious growing crisis that is not getting enough attention, in my opinoin.

Originally posted by poet1b
World food shortages are beginning to become a major topic. I was reading a newspaper covering Asia, and the article was blaming biofuels for food shortages in Asia. Say What! Asia's primary food source is rice. Are they making biofuels out of rice?

Most countries in the world are in fact trying to generate foreign capitol ( in the form of USD or Euros) so that they may be able to afford oil which coincidentally , yeah right, happens to be traded in those currencies. Since rice is not a cash crop and one that will lose you money when it's not being eaten all countries with trade deficits ( largely due to oil and similar commodities) try to generate as much capitol by having absolutely no incentives for their farmers to produce any more food than is necessary bargaining that any food shortfalls can be made good by local food suppliers purchasing it on the world markets. Obviously when oil gets more and more expensive food production slows even more as it's a ever bigger loser as compared to the heavily subsidised European and American products.

Last I heard, corn, soybean, and sugar are the major food sources being used for biofuels,

And since they are now being turned into wasteful bio fuels they are no longer on the world market thus leading to food shortages in those countries that were dependent on buying these relatively cheap goods subsidised , strangely, as they were by the American taxpayer.

and old fryer grease, which the U.S. has no shortage of. Why are biofuels being blamed for the growing food shortage? The fix is in.

Old fryer grease? Do you honestly believe that is worth mentioning in terms of volume? Bio fuels are being blamed because they are partly responsible as farmers and others are now once again stockpiling those in the hopes that gas prices might rise even further....

This growing food shortage was predicted by the site dieoff.com.

Because that is why they do? Don't you think that the people, and i use the term loosely, who are planning the depopulation ( well most of us will have to go apparently) of the planet have the power to affect at least part of the result they are forecasting?

It is scary how quickly this crisis is developing. What I have I read tries to blame biofuels, rather than the true relationship between oil prices and food prices.

It's scary how effective these long term plans are and just how inhumanly efficient they seem to be at bringing about so much suffering and death, yes.
What you have read is not accurate as it apparently failed to make clear that both oil and food prices are currently heavily manipulated to affect the outcomes we see happening today. These things could not have happened so fast UNLESS it was in fact being planned.

Stellar

Originally posted by Karlhungis
Yes, the feverish attacks on biofuels seems to be rising. While I don't think they are the answer and they do seem to be a big waste of resources, I think you are correct. I have trouble connecting the dots on how Corn for ethanol is somehow affecting the rice market?

The real problem seems to be high fuel costs, but it seems that people are taking advantage of this to attack biofuels. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that big oil was helping to fuel the attacks.

The biofuel cartel from the midwest managed to get government subsidies pushed through so that corn farmers get paid big bucks for growing and selling their corn to ethanol producers. They also put tariffs on importing sugar cane which is 8 times more potent for making biofuels than corn.

What this did was cause ethanol producers to create an unnaturally inflated demand for corn since they were getting subsidized by the government. Farmers grow corn now to sell to the ethanol producers, and this has taken corn out of the market for food. This has caused demand, and thereby prices, to increase on all other foods, like rice.

This isn't some plot by oil companies to discredit ethanol.

Also, just out of curiosity, I was wondering if Obama has called for a windfall profit tax on farmers selling corn since the price of corn has doubled in the last year??