04/28/08 Biofuel Bashing

Picture it; a large boardroom full of important looking people decked out in their finest power suits snickering and laughing at their best coup ever, convincing nations around the world that biofuels production is the cause of all the world's problems especially starving people in third world countries. What better way to maintain status quo and their ever prospering bank accounts. Even our local newspaper is caught up in the biofuels bashing mania; printing only anti biofuels political cartoons and stories. Biofuels are quickly becoming the scapegoat for the ever rising commodity prices, but the real cause lies behind poor harvests worldwide due to drought, natural disaster, and growing food demand. Perhaps fingers should point at the growing numbers of "players" in the financial market that have dashed to procure profits and have deliberately driven down food supplies while pushing demand in order to boost food commodity prices. A recent statement from a Midwest farmer sums it up for me, "When was the last time you saw soldiers having to defend my corn field"?