Castro correctly argues that the cost for producing biofuel from food will be paid by the poor people of the world as the third world countries that form the majority of agricultural producers will sell their food crops as fuel. What this implies is, in simple terms, a competition for food between the people of the third world and… cars.
Capitalist repsonse to this was predictable, most spun the story as showing that Castro’s health must be improving without responding to what he said – except to bash him for being a communist, of course. However, he’s right. Growing crops to be used to as fuel cars means others may not have food to eat.
We need cars that get vastly better mileage. That’s the best way to go. Yes, a Hummer can probably run on biofuel, but it will still be a bloated, highly inefficient pig of a car, one that’ll be burning up someone else’s potential meal.
Third world food supplies have already been disrupted by governments encouraging farmers to switch to export crops (especially fruit) instead of subsistence farming. The economic results are misleading: incomes rise, as crops are sold instead of eaten– but quality of life sinks, as farmers have less (and lower quality) food for themselves, and the cost of that food increases because of foreign demand. Thailand, for example, is a fruit paradise– but health issues have increased because nowadays few farmers can afford to feed it to their families.
Imagine what will happen if the Third World starts major growing of crops to be used to create biofuel rather than for food…
It’s true. Demand fuels prices. If we’re burning it, we can’t eat it. Like corn, for example– if it goes into gas tanks, it gets more expensive to feed it to people & livestock. It’ll be worse in the Third World because food is a much larger percentage of expense.
What’s interesting is that the Venezuelan government was promoting bio-fuels as recently as February as the latest and greatest thing to hit Latin America. Oh well….
Trackback from AsymptoticLife.com:
“Crop Prices Soar, Pushing Up Cost of Food Globally: New Demand for Biofuels Feeds Inflation Pressure; China, India Feel Pinch.”
This astounding headline comes not from a fringe radical website, but from today’s (April 9, 2007) staunchly conservative Wall Street Journal. As my friend at Polizeros observed last week, demand for fuel from grain will drive food prices higher, hurting the poor most. (post continues)