Biofuels have been in media and on the political agenda over the past 7 years. American politicians, including President Bush and President Obama have stressed the importance of energy independence and the prospects of using cellulosic crops to create ethanol for domestic consumption in automobiles. The current talks revolving around the use of biofuels as a means of achieving energy independence are ignoring a fundamental component. How will the use of crops that were grown for food consumption affect the global food system? This key question could have huge implications to those living on less than one dollar a day around the world.
Globally there has been a trend of food price reduction which has helped to alleviate hunger in many areas by making food more affordable. The linking of the global agriculture system directly to the energy sector could unbalance the global trend of food price reduction and cause the more than 1 billion people living on less than one dollar a day in jeopardy of a food crisis. One of the big questions is whether or not the food prices would follow the variability of the energy sector especially of oil if biofuels were used widely. Over the last 35 years crude oil prices have been twice as variable as global maize prices.[i] This connection could cause the price of basic food commodities to increase as the demand for oil increases. In 2006 these price fluctuations were seen in maize prices globally when the US rapidly increased its biofuels program.[ii] The cost per bushel rose from $2.60 in 2006 to $4.25 in 2007.[iii] This increase in price had both positive and negative effects on the global system. Farmers were able to make more off their crops which helped rural low income farmers around the globe increase their income; however, this increase in price put a greater stress on impoverished low income families to obtain enough food. At the same time other crops are also seeing a rise in price without decrease in yields because farmers in the US and around the globe began to plant more corn on their land decreasing land used for the other crops. This decreased the supply of these other crops where there still was high demand leading to more increases in food prices. This has a huge impact on people living in chronic hunger conditions because 1/3 of their caloric intake comes from crops that are being used for cellulosic ethanol production.[iv] The long and short term implications global food prices are still yet to be fully understood, but the preliminary indicators show a major potential for food inequality to be effected.
The price increases on the crops used for cellulosic ethanol production has an unexpected environmental impact. When there are price increases on certain crops in past related to drought or low yields in other parts of the world farmers growing that crop have an economic incentive to maximize yields as much as possible. Farmers turn to increasing their fertilizer use on their crops in hopes of slightly increasing yields. This over application of fertilizer to crops has detrimental impacts of water chemistry and ecosystems. The run-off from these farms makes its way into the rivers and streams surrounding it and from there makes its way to the ocean. Along the way the excess nutrients found in the water from the excess fertilizer causes uninhibited growth of algae which upon decomposition kills off all other species. Eutrophication has huge impacts on marine ecosystems and has led to a loss in biodiversity in our oceans and coastal areas. A key component to fertilizer is phosphorus. With this increase in fertilizer use and run-off large amounts of phosphorus is lost to the ocean where it is no longer recoverable for human use. This poses a problem since phosphorus sources around the globe are running out. Estimates put “peak phosphorus” around 2033 which means that we are quickly depleting our resource with no solution in sight.
The use of biofuels as an energy source would only exacerbate the problems we face with fertilizer use and our limited amounts of phosphorus. With an increase in the amount of crops needed to be produced to provide the US with ethanol there would also be an increase in the amount of fertilizer needed. It also has great potential to cause food crisis around the developing world especially in areas where hunger is already a rampant issue. Price increases in food would have profound and lasting impacts on nearly every country around the globe ranging from increased rates of malnutrition to drops in average birth weights. The decision to use biofuels as a possible solution to our energy problems is a complex and highly political issue that needs to be thought out very carefully by lawmakers. One of the main reasons for energy independence is national security, but the outcomes of a global food crisis would potentially have more of an impact on our national security than our dependence on foreign oil.
Cordell, D., Drangert, J., & White, S. (2009). The story of phosphorus: global food security and food for thought. Global Environmental Change, 19, 292-305.
Filippelli, G. M. (2008). The global phosphorus cycle: past, present, and future. Elements, 4, 88-95
Naylor, R. L., Liska, A., Burke, M. B., Falcon, W. P., & Gaskell, J. C. (2007). The ripple effect: biofuels, food security, and the environment. Environment, 49(9), 30-43.
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