Canada's BioFuel Industry

[blueblood]

I have no problem with bio-wastes being used to generate fuels, but dedicating highly productive acreage to fuel production really doesn't make sense. Something like 90% of the biomass produced by corn, soybean and wheat production is inedible. By all means let's turn tha waste into niche fuels...however, coproduction of crops and either wind or solar energy on the same land is the mainstream way forward.

Dedicating high productive acreage to biofuel helps keep a lid on gas prices, and boosts value of exports.

[TimG]

Dedicating high productive acreage to biofuel helps keep a lid on gas prices, and boosts value of exports.

Translation: it increases the cost of food which hurts poor people the most.

[blueblood]

Translation: it increases the cost of food which hurts poor people the most.

so does increased fuel prices. It also provides more incentive to put land into ag production, r and d into higher yielding varieties and so on. The world needs all the energy it can get. The way things were done in the 90s with massive subsidies being paid to people to essentially put their grain into a pile were getting nowhere, at least with biofuels, the subsidy at least gets somewhat of a return with higher value exports and more domestic spending. Ag production does not shut down like oil production, bills still have to get paid which is why ag production occurs no matter what price.

[TimG]

The way things were done in the 90s with massive subsidies being paid to people to essentially put their grain into a pile were getting nowhere

Your argument has merit if the choice is between paying farmers to produce excess food or paying them to produce biofuels. Ironically, you also make the point that subsidizing food production helps the poor by reducing food prices.

[Mighty AC]

Dedicating high productive acreage to biofuel helps keep a lid on gas prices, and boosts value of exports.

We live on a finite earth and have yet to stabilize the population. We are already desertifying huge areas of arable land and destroying vast tracts of oxygen producing, carbon sinking forests just to produce food. Using productive acreage to grow anything but food, when we already have much better power options doesn't make sense. Though, like I said food crops also yield large quantities of inedible biomass that can be used to produce chemicals and niche fuels.

[blueblood]

Your argument has merit if the choice is between paying farmers to produce excess food or paying them to produce biofuels. Ironically, you also make the point that subsidizing food production helps the poor by reducing food prices.

Thats essentially the argument. The ag industry contributes tax dollars and will lobby the govt on how ag policy should go. I didnt make the point of subsidizing food production helping out poor people. I said higher fuel prices also hurt poor people. The poor people were essentially dumped with excess food in the mid 90s produced at almost under cost of production, so they have little incentive to produce their own. If the ag industry is going to lobby govt on how tax dollars are spent, its easier to justify spending that money on something that makes their exports more valuable than paying them to over produce. Europe is an example of this and they have paid so much to overproduce that its one of their largest expenditures and has hurt their finances