By James Delingpole
"Given the increased importance of biofuels and the new linkages between agricultural and energy markets, increased cereal yields, if achieved, may not necessarily continue to lead to lower cereal prices. Because the world energy market is so much larger than the world grain market, grain prices may be determined by oil prices in the energy market as opposed to being determined by grain supply.Thus, higher priced energy means more hungry people."
1 comment:
Given the fact that the author uses such language as; "if achieved, may not necessarily" and "may be determined", wouldn't the title "The real reason why one million go hungry may be: wind farms, biofuels, sustainability... if achieved".
I never have totally understood the thinking that if we just end biofuels production we will have lower commodity prices and more food. But don't lower commodity prices usually lead to lower production of those same commodities? So any surplus of food will be temporary.
But during that temporary surplus, the lower commodity prices will drive the marginal producers out of business. That's not good for our farmers but especially bad for the the worlds poor farmers.
Then of course as the biofuels are taken out of the energy supply, oil prices go up. So we end up in the position of supplying the world with cheap food for the great pleasure of buying more foreign oil at a higher price.
Post a Comment