Biofuel crops could speed up Peak Food

February 11, 2008 · Filed Under loss of crop land 

Slowly, people are realising that some biofuel crops can increase carbon emissions and reduce food production. It is so important that only crops with a good energy balance are grown, but government targets and incentives for the inclusion of biofuels do not set any standards for the type of crop or demand any kind of energy audit.

In a new study, Joseph Fargione of the American Nature Conservancy points out that clearing forests, grass and peatlands to make way for biofuel crops like corn and soybeans causes the carbon stored in the soil to escape to the atmosphere. He says that the conversion of peatlands to palm oil plantations in Indonesia has caused the greatest losses, and the conversion of land in Brazil for soy production was also very damaging.

Fargione says, “You release about 280 tons of carbon to the atmosphere for every hectare you convert, and that is compared to the saving you get when you use biodiesel, which is about 0.9 tons of CO2 for every year. So you would take 319 years just to get back to where you started by using biodiesel grown on that land.”

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