The Agricultural Ethics of Biofuels: The Food vs. Fuel Debate

Abstract

Plant-based transportation fuels were the focus of extended criticism in the press, especially during 2008 when a portion of the blame for a spike in global food prices was associated with growth of the United States’ corn ethanol industry. The critique is based on an unsophisticated portrayal of the ethical issues at stake in the food security implications of biofuel. Three ethical critiques can be leveled at the food vs. fuel debate. First, although market drivers of biofuels indeed skew consumption of agricultural grains, this is not a problem that is unique to biofuels. Second, the critique does not reflect an adequate understanding of the way that rising food prices and changes in agricultural technology affect the food security of the poorest people. Third, although rising food prices could be beneficial to poor farm producers among the world’s poor, it is unlikely that benefits will materialize in the absence of concerted programs to deliberately select biofuel development strategies that are targeted to strengthen food security for poor and small-holding producers. An adequate agricultural ethics for biofuels will require commitment by both private and public sector biofuel developers to ensure that potentially positive attributes of biofuel development are realized

Food versus fuel? Going beyond biofuels

“…See Figure 1). Thompson, 2012a). The actual contribution that biofuels made to the food price hikes has remained contested due to the complexity and uncertainty inherent in attempting to model the different factors at play, although most studies have found that biofuels were a contributing factor (Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 2009; Kretschmer et al, 2012;Zilberman et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2013;De Gorter et al, 2015).…”

“…While the benefits of this simplified framing are clear -it provides a hook on which to hang criticisms of biofuels -we aim to draw attention to the complexities, issues and questions obfuscated by this frame. In this paper, we do not revisit the evidence on the impact of biofuels on food prices (see Kretschmer et al, 2012;Zilberman et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2013;De Gorter et al, 2015), nor do we examine the moral and ethical arguments concerning biofuels, which have been explored elsewhere (see Thompson 2012aThompson , 2012bGamborg et al, 2012). Nor do we argue for or against biofuels, again a false dichotomy given the diversity of crops, production and processing systems, and political economic contexts in which biofuels are developed and deployed.…”

“…Biofuels have therefore been promoted as a vehicle for rural development, for example by improving farm gate prices, farmer education, and technology transfer, enabling farmers to raise productivity (Mathews, 2007;Koning and Mol, 2009). However, whether and how biofuels contribute to rural economies is contested, and one of the most disputed impacts has been on food production and availability (Clancy, 2008;Rosillo-Calle and Johnson, 2010;Thompson, 2012a). The food vs. fuel argument calls into question the ethics of diverting land from food to energy production, and has two key facets: firstly, that demand for biofuels has an impact on food prices, which disproportionately affects poor people in the global South (e.g.…”

Review on Catalytic Cleavage of C–C Inter-unit Linkages in Lignin Model Compounds: Towards Lignin Depolymerisation

“…One of the proposed alternatives for achieving this is to use green and sustainable alternatives to the conventional feedstock for producing commodity chemicals and fuels. The fuel versus food debate for the 1st generation biofuels led to the development of 2nd generation biofuels where, lignocellulosic biomass (or waste biomass) that does not compete with food crops, is used as the feedstock to produce chemicals and fuels [3][4][5].…”

Facilitating Regional Energy Transition Strategies: Toward a Typology of Regions

“…We only consider the use of waste biomass in this study. According to the German Advisory Council on the environment, energy crops include several sustainability challenges in agriculture and forestry apart from the discussions on 'food or fuel' [46]. For example, (German) forests serve as a sink for CO 2 .…”