Making soybeans into biodiesel is no food versus fuel competition – rather it is food AND fuel. “When you talk about soy biodiesel, you can actually burn the soy and eat it too,” says Jim Hershey, who is executive director for both the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) Program and the World Soy Foundation. During a World …
Food and Fuel Production Co-Exist in Brazil
The promise of new science and technology for increasing food and fuel production was part of a conversation panel at the World Food Prize Norman Borlaug Symposium in Des Moines on Wednesday. Among the panelists was Brazil’s former minister of agriculture Roberto Rodrigues, co-chair of the International Biofuels Commission, who talked about the importance of biofuels development for developing nations. …
Biofuels Talk at World Food Prize Event
These days, a dialogue about global food has to include biofuels – the two have become inseparable in recent years. At the World Food Prize Norman Borlaug Symposium this week in Des Moines many speakers are addressing how biofuels fit in the global food outlook. The keynote speaker for the symposium kickoff Wednesday was Sir Gordon Conway, who is chief …
Ethanol-Producing Sugar Beet Wins Award
Syngenta has received the 2008 World Business and Development Award (WBDA) for the development and successful introduction of a new sugar beet that can be grown under tropical climate conditions and brings significant advantages to farmers, the environment, the sugar and ethanol industries and the economy. The WBDA, presented by the United Nations Development Program, the International Chamber of Commerce …
Ethanol at the United Nations
A United Nations forum on Millennium Development Goals this week featured a discussion on energy and biofuels that allowed the CEO of world’s largest ethanol producing company a chance to share ideas on how ethanol can help address both poverty and energy dependence in developing nations. As one of two presenters at the private sector forum roundtable on energy and …
Brazilian President Makes Case for Biofuels at UN
Leaders from all over the world have gathered at the United Nations in New York City for the annual high-level debate before the General Assembly. Part of that included the fuel-versus-food debate. In this article from the UN News Centre, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva disputed the idea that biodiesel and ethanol are the cause of high food …
Austrian Views on Food Versus Fuel
The issue of food versus fuel was a topic of discussion among international agricultural journalists visiting Austria this past week. The group of 250 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists members representing nearly 20 countries was led by former commissioner of agriculture for the European Union Franz Fischler, a native Austrian. Fischler called the food versus fuel controversy “unfair.” “They don’t …
Brazil May Challenge Ethanol Tariff
Brazil is considering a World Trade Organization challenge over the United States ethanol import tariff. Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday that they have “a very strong case and there is a good chance” that they will challenge the 54 cent per gallon tariff on Brazilian ethanol. The tariff was extended through 2010 …
US and China to Study Sorghum for Ethanol
As athletes were racing for the gold in Beijing last week, representatives from the United States and China were in Texas teaming up in the race to develop new feedstocks for ethanol. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China signed an agreement to collaborate on biofuels research during the …
Verenium Advances Cellulosic Ethanol in Asia
US biofuels development company Verenium Corporation and Japanese trading company Marubeni Corporation recently announced the opening of a three million-liter-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant in Saraburi, Thailand. The cellulosic plant in Thailand is co-located with a facility that will produce ethanol from sugar-cane derived sucrose, which is widely abundant in the region. Sugar cane bagasse, the biomass residue from the sugar …