World leaders are meeting this week in Rome, Italy to discuss the current world food crisis.
While some there are trying to blame biofuels for the recent spike in food prices, this CNN story says the industry has some heavy-hitting allies who argue before the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization that green energy is not to blame for more green being spent on grocery bills:
The president of Brazil, whose country’s sugar cane has long been used to produce ethanol that fuels cars and trucks, delivered an impassioned defense of biofuels.
“It is frightening to see attempts to draw a cause-and-effect relationship between biofuels and the rise of food prices,” said Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. “It offends me to see fingers pointed against clean energy from biofuels, fingers soiled with oil and coal.”
And U.S. leaders are there as well to dispute claims that biodiesel and ethanol production are fully responsible for raising food prices worldwide by 30 percent or more:
While agreeing that sustainability and innovation are needed, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer insisted that biofuels contribute only 2 or 3 percent to a predicted 43 percent rise in prices this year.
“The use of sustainable biofuels can increase energy security, foster economic development especially in rural areas, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions without weighing heavily on food prices,” Schafer said in his address.
The talks continues through Thursday.
A new report says millions of workers in the U.S. will benefit from a green economy… and many workers already have the skills to make the jump to clean energy jobs.
The National Resources Defense Council, a coalition of environmental organizations, has released a report titled “Job Opportunities for the Green Economy.” The paper, put together by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, takes a look at the potential of green jobs in 12 key states. 
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Siemens Energy has announced it will open a wind research and development center in Colorado.
“We are very pleased to establish our first wind turbine R&D competence center in Boulder. The proximity of important institutions such as NREL and the NWTC, as well as the support received from the State of Colorado and the City of Boulder, make Boulder the perfect location for a R&D center in the U.S.,” Randy Zwirn, head of Siemens’ Energy Sector in the U.S., said in a statement.
Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group is buying the large assets of U.S. Biodiesel Group… a move that is expected to greatly enhance REG’s ability to distribute biodiesel on the West Coast and the Texas Gulf Coast.
I know that this wine cup of mine isn’t going to fuel a vehicle but it’s an example of one of the other uses of corn here at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference in Kansas City, MO. 
Colorado Corn Growers Association
“We at the United States Department of Agriculture have plotted the long-term trends of price, yield, availability and consumption; and as we’ve looked at those long-term trends we are anticipating this year an over 40 percent increase in food price inflation globally, 43 percent approximately,” Schafer said. “Of that, we can identify 2 to 3 percent of that price increase that is driven by biofuels. The majority of course is energy, and the second largest piece, or about equal piece, is the increase in consumption around the world which is using up the production stocks.”
Even the FAO admits that biofuels are only one factor in rising food costs. According to the FAO Biofuels Factsheet for the conference, “Demand from biofuel production is one cause of increasing food prices, but poor harvests in certain key exporting countries, low stock levels, high energy costs and increasing food demand due to rapid economic growth in some countries have also all contributed. It is the coincidence of all of these factors which has led to the dramatic increase in food prices, and which makes it difficult to estimate the precise impact of any single factor.“
Last year’s conference in St. Petersburg attracted more than 450 participants and Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson believes this year’s conference will be even bigger and better.