Agrofuels or Biofuels?

By Peter Mann, Co-Director, Global Movements Program

Recently I saw a disturbing cartoon of a small malnourished child in a devastated landscape holding an ear of corn: a paunchy guy from the developed world stretched out his hand to take the corn: “Sorry, he said, I need this to fill my gas tank.”

I thought of this graphic during the CSD meetings at the UN and the Showcase event on Sunday. There is a huge, often overlooked distinction between industrial scale agrofuels and sustainable biofuels.

Agrofuels are liquid fuels from biomass grown on a large industrial agriculture scale. Agrofuels are currently produced from plants such as corn, oil palm, soy, sugar cane, sugar beet, rapeseed, canola, jatropha, rice and wheat, as well as animal fat. They can also include trees that are grown on large-scale plantations.

Sustainable biofuels production is possible. Biomass has long been used for fuel, whether growing fodder for draft animals or wood for heat; new biofuel models intercrop energy and food crops, or produce locally-made biodiesel for farm machinery. Agrofuels, however, threaten food security, farm workers, rural communities, and the environment.

Agrofuels Threaten Food Security

Food riots in many countries over steeply rising food prices and food scarcity has many causes but agrofuels are a significant element. Expansion of agrofuel production directly competes with community resources for food production - for land, water and nutrients; it increases dependency on food imports; it does not guarantee food for all nor fair prices for farmers.

Agrofuels Harm Agricultural Workers’ Rights

Greater demand for agrofuel crops such as sugar cane and soy is leading to increased slave wages, enslavement, and child labor, as well as sicknesses and deaths resulting from dangerous plantation work. In Brazil’s Amazon, the expansion of sugar cane production for agrofuels creates serious health problems of asthma, bronchial illness, and burns.

Agrofuels Increase Rural Poverty

Industrial-scale agrofuels expand corporate concentration in the food systems, as food and energy monopolies begin to merge; they prevent family farmers from feeding communities through local food systems, and increase rural poverty in the U.S. and abroad. Brazil’s ethanol campaign is destroying entire rural villages and communities.

Agrofuels and the Environment

Agrofuels are often promoted as “green” technology, yet current production practices contribute to water depletion, soil erosion, contamination by GMOs, the pollution of water, and deforestation to make way for fuel crops. They do not provide good food, clean water, fertile soil, healthful crops and sustainable practices.

For more information see the report: “Fueling Disaster : A Community Food Perspective on Agrofuels”.

This article was originally published on May 12, 2008 in Outreach Issues, the daily civil society newsletter at the CSD produced by the SDIN Group and Stakeholder Forum.