Rabu, 05 September 2012

Nestl Chief Discusses Biofuels Food Production Clash


Little time has passed since we reported on UN leader José Graziano da Silva's request that the US back down on its present biofuel targets in order to avoid a potential food crisis which will negatively impact not just this country, but also global grains markets.

The risk of biofuel standards threatening the stability of the international food industry is now becoming ever more obvious, as Nestlé's CEO, Paul Bulcke, also demands that both the US and the EU place less emphasis on biofuel targets as soon as possible.

The main drive behind Paul Bulcke's is the same that caused José Graziano da Silva to step up and argue that increased amounts of US crops need to be channeled towards the food industry, rather than towards the energy market.

Thus, Nestlé's CEO made a case of how, “Agricultural food-based biofuel is an aberration. We say that the EU and U.S. should put money behind the right biofuels.”

Furthermore, “It [the use of biofuels] was well-intentioned at the time, but when you have better information then you have to be coherent.”

According to Smart Planet, these statements were made during this year's World Water Week, an international conference that took place in Sweden.

Following in the footsteps of José Graziano da Silva, Paul Bulcke argues that, under current environmental conditions, agricultural lands worldwide find themselves unable to deliver sufficient harvests so as to satisfy the demand of both the biofuel and the food industry.

Therefore, sticking to the plan of using 40% of the corn produced on US soil to make biofuels is bound to aggravate on-going food shortages even further, especially if the EU is to also continue pursuing its goal of cutting down on its carbon emissions by increasing biofuels consumption with as much as 10% â€" 20%.

Should one also take into consideration recent predictions concerning future population growth, Paul Bulcke's demand seems to lack anything but solid arguments.

“We say no food for fuel,” Nestlé's CEO summed up his very firm opinion on this issue.

Via: Nestl Chief Discusses Biofuels Food Production Clash

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