Choosing Between Food and Fuel
The increase in corn prices brought about by the rush to corn ethanol production was a valuable lesson last year. Now with gasoline prices down, and many corn ethanol plants mothballed, there is time to consider the interplay of food crops and fuel crops. Targeting research and development efforts on crops that do not have much presence on dinner tables seems like a wise policy. Using corn, soybeans and other food crops for fuel instead of food does not seem to be a good idea. The potential for partial solutions such as camelina-based jet fuel and rutabagas for biodiesel are intriguing, but even these approaches have risks. Dedicating acreage to produce fuel crops means it is unavailable for food crops. So a second imperative would be to grow fuel crops on land that is less desirable—find crops that are drought resistant and require less fertilizer/herbicides. But despite noble policy pronouncements, in the end the marketplace will dictate what growers plant each spring.
