Calls for moratorium on grain-based biofuels

In another apparent blow to the biofuels industry, two leading food researchers--Joachim von Braun of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Robert Ziegler of the International Rice Research Institute--called yesterday for a moratorium on grain and oilseed-based biofuels (see the Economic Times report here) in response to global food shortages and rising prices.

The evidence against biofuels is piling up. Although biofuels alone are not responsible for the current food crisis (a perfect storm consisting of a drought in food-producing regions of Australia and rising global demand for food in general and meat in particular are big factors in the spiraling costs of food staples), von Braun estimates that a moratorium on certain biofuels in 2008 would reduce maize prices by 20% and wheat prices by 10% in the next two years. Other research I've read corroborates von Braun's estimates, attributing as much as 20% of the current rise in food prices to biofuels.

There is also growing consternation about the overall environmental impacts of biofuels, (like the growing dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico from nitrogen runoff in the American corn-belt, the massive amounts of CO2 emissions released from the drainage of peat lands for biofuel feedstock cultivation, and the threats to biodiversity from clearing tropical forests in Southeast Asia for palm oil and other biofuel feedstock plantations).

Interestingly, von Braun and Ziegler do not condemn all agriculture-based biofuels. They still support sugar cane-based fuels. National Geographic produced an excellent piece several months ago comparing the life cycle Co2 emissions, energy balance and retail price of different biofuels. Their analysis favors sugar cane-based ethanol over corn-based ethanol, although there are still sustainability concerns over increasing land in and around the Amazon being converted to sugar cane cultivation.

Von Braun and Ziegler are right to urge governments to question their biofuels policies. But let's fight the urge to condemn biofuels with the same enthusiasm that we adopted them. Today's biofuels may be far from perfect, but tomorrow's biofuels offer tremendous hope. A growing body of literature is touting the promise of cellulosic ethanol and biofuel derived from algae. In an ideal scenario, governments will remain bullish on biofuels but will channel investment and incentives toward second generation biofuels, rather than targeting increased production of today's imperfect biofuels.