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Cheap Fuel Or Pricey Food
UPI Food Writer Le Bugue, France (UPI) July 09, 2007 Keep an eye on your household budget as we move away from fossil fuels and towards grain extracts to keep our cars on the road. What you may save at the gas pump you are likely to have to spend in the supermarket. Last week, a study from the OECD -- the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development -- and the FAO, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, warned that biofuels would have a major impact on agriculture in the coming years. Grain prices are likely to rise by 20 to 50 percent over the next decade, said Loek Boonekamp, a senior OECD official. The reason is twofold: an increased demand for biofuel and a shortfall in harvests, already occurring in many parts of the world over the past few years, due to poor climate. In the United States, production of ethanol -- a biofuel extracted from maize -- will increase by almost 50 percent in 2007. While growth rates are predicted subsequently to slow down, they will have doubled by 2016. Biofuels, in case you've been on holiday in Antarctica for the past year, are the friendly alternative to fossil fuels, being kinder to the environment -- and to politicians, who are also pushing them as all-round cheaper in the long run than petroleum. But forget for the moment about cars and think about food. Quantities of maize grown for fuel have already doubled since 2003. Where is it all being planted? In 2006, maize for fuel accounted for one-fifth of maize production in the United States. By the end of 2016, the period under review for the report, it will have increased to 32 percent of maize production. What was the maize-crop land being used for before? If it was for edible produce, what will happen to the price of this as its production diminishes? The report confirms that grain prices are expected to remain higher than they have been in the past decade. This, it points out, will have an impact on the price of livestock products because of the higher cost of animal feed. Livestock products, to you and me, are what goes down on our shopping lists as meat, butter and milk. Considering how used we have become to eating cheaply and the dependence we have developed upon protein sources like the 99-cent hamburger, how will we be balancing our expenses if food prices start to go up as fuel prices decrease? It's another good reason to look to the rural diets of cultures less wealthy than our own. Doctors promote the so-called Mediterranean diet for its nutritional properties. It also has the advantage of being cheap. In India, the Middle East and Latin America, as well as in Spain, Portugal, Greece, pulses are a prime source of protein. A rare day goes by without lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans and other dried legumes taking a supporting-star role in a meal. They supply the bulk, the fiber and protein, iron and zinc of much of the diet in this corners of the globe. Variety of flavor is added with vegetables like potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, onions and garlic. Serve them with rice, as is common in India and Latin America, and you have a cheap, nutritious and filling meal.
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Expert Says Rising Sea Levels Pose Threat To Rice
Manila (AFP) July 09, 2007Rising sea levels triggered by climate change pose an "ominous" threat to some of the world's most productive rice-growing areas, the International Rice Research Institute has warned. The Philippines-based institution is devoting fresh efforts to mitigating the coming threat, but senior climate scientist Reiner Wassman said adequate funding had yet to materialise. |
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