Biodiesel and ethanol have borne the brunt of criticism in the food versus fuel debate… being blamed, unfairly as it turns out, for the spike in food prices last year. The issue was one that came up at the recent World Ag Forum in St. Louis (see our coverage of the event over at our sister Web site, AgWired.com) that saw delegates from around the world gather with some varying opinions… especially when it comes to biofuels. It was important enough that the organizers of the forum dedicated an entire session on the second day to the subject.
In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we listen in on some of the conversation that included American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman; Henk Joos, the Plant Science and Agronomy director for British-based biofuels maker D1 Oils; former Secretary of Agriculture for India Radha Singh; Lee Broughton with car rental company Enterprise; Bill Horan, an Iowa corn and soybean farmer and a member of 25x’25 (an initiative to get the US to produce 25 percent of its fuel from renewable sources by the year 2025); and professor Nuhu Hatibu, CEO of Kilimo Trust, East Africa.
Pretty interesting conversation, and you can hear it here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/domesticfuel/DFCast-6-05-09.mp3]