Biodiesel Fuel versus Food.

When does planting oil crops that will be used to produce Biodiesel become more important than planting food crops for the millions of people on earth that is on the brink of starvation?

The problem is that it is possible for oil and food to be in competetion.

Do farmers plant low income grain that can be used as food or do they plant high income oil crops, like soy or canola, that will be used to make Biodiesel.

Farmers all over the world will come at a point where they will have to choose between planting a low cash crop like maize that will be used as food or a high cash crop like soy that will be used for biodiesel. Tough choice...

According to the rule of supply and demand this problem should sort itself out. When all the farmers start planting oil crops instead of food crops they will cause the price of food crops to rise due to low supply and high demand and the price of oil crops to fall due to high supply and low demand. This will then make it more profitable for the farmers to plant food crops again. As a result of all the farmers planting food crops again, the price of oil crops will rise due to low supply and high demand and the price of food crops to fall due to high supply and low demand. This cycle where farmers alternate between planting the most profitable crop, either food or oil, will continue until an equilibruim is found.

One can argue that the demand for oil is so great that it will always be more profitable to plant oil crops than food crops and that will just cause the food prices to continue to rise. We don't think this will be the case, at some point food crops will again be more profitable than oil crops. Nobody want the food prices to rise... Is there an alternative...?

Another way of seeing the Food versus Fuel Problem is like this. All over the world there are people that are on the brink of starvation. These people mainly live in third world countries. Countries that have a low demand for fuel but high demand for food. Richer countries on the other hand have a high demand for fuel. There exist the posibility that rich countries can exploit poorer countries for fuel.

Take for example the poor country of "Anyplace" in Africa. Years of civil war, corruption and mismanagement has left most people dependent on foreign aid. They have a very tropical climate and a large number of natural coconut plantations along their coast. Coconuts have great oil yield, perfect for the production of biodiesel. However, many people's very lives depend on these coconuts as this is their only source of food. What will happen if a rich country comes along and buyes up all the coconuts and use it to make fuel. This could be good for the country. The high price they will get for the coconut oil will allow them to buy more food than they could get from only the coconuts. This is unfortunately not how it happens in "Anyplace". The people in control of this country who received the money for the oil, did not depend on the coconuts as food. They as a matter of fact did not have a problem with food at all. It is only the people on the street, the people that are on the brink of starvation that depended on the coconuts. The same people that will never see a cent of that money. If only the money that was received would filter down to all the people that really needed it, then this could be a viable option. Unfortunately it never happens... Is there an alternative...? .

Let us consider this.

The earth continue to use fossil fuel and petroluem products which are getting more expensive and harder to come by every day. The rising price of oil causes the price of food to rise as well because of the geographical difference between the producer and the consumer. Another problem is the Global Warming crisis caused by the use of fossil fuels. This crisis can cause the prices of food to rise even more. Global warming causes higher temperature and lower rainfall which will result in lower food crop yield and higher food prices. Both scenarios, using fossil fuels and the food crop versus oil crop can cause the price of food to rise. The one however will also destroy the environment in the process.

The only viable option is to only use feedstocks that is not in competition with food (in any way) for the production of biodiesel. That means instead of using maize for fuel you could only use waste vegetable oil or Jathropa to make biodiesel. The Jathropa, however, can not be in competition with a food crop for land or water.

This does limit it quite drastically, except for Algea. Algea doesn't need freshwater or land to grow, it is not in competition with any food crop and it has potentially higher yields than any other biodiesel feedstock.

Algea is the only truly viable option. Well worth looking into.