Food verses Fuel - fact, fiction and myths

We don’t have enough crops to produce food and biofuels

Worldwide there is plenty of arable land (presently uncultivated) that can be used for producing crops, if the level of agricultural investment which is currently lacking is improved.

The new market for crops provided by biofuels will ensure that farmers in the UK, and in developing countries, get fair prices for what they grow. Not all suitable agricultural land is in use at present and farmers will respond to increased demand by additional planting / production.

In addition, the main by-products in the production of many biofuels provide high-protein animal feed for the livestock sector which will reduce the amount of land needed to grow dedicated protein crops.

Furthermore, in the UK we throw away around 20 million tonnes of food every year. (Source: WRAP).

The UK Biofuels Industry is not delivering on its promises

Biofuels produced in the UK are delivering savings in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (bioethanol produced by British Sugar reduces GHG by around 70%).

The companies that sell the fuel – that are obliged by law to include a percentage of biofuels in their fuel – can choose where they source their biofuels from. Biofuels manufactured in this country will deliver GHG savings and be produced in an environmentally friendly way.

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There are good ways of producing biofuels and bad ways.

Cutting down forests and destroying habitats in order to plant crops to produce food, cosmetics, or biofuels is totally unacceptable.

We don’t want biofuels produced this way in the UK, and the industry and the UK government will do everything it can to ensure that such biofuels are not used here. Sustainability reporting already exists in the UK, and standards will be enforced by law from 2010, under the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive..

The reports cover deforestation, air, water and soil quality as well as social effects like the treatment of workers and respect for the rights of local people.

 UK biofuels will therefore provide a major driver for sustainable development in all agricultural production in the future.