Could corn kill three birds with one stone? Could this crop be used to kickstart trade talks, lead to an end to food subsidies, and solve the global warming crisis? At first glance, it actually looks like it could. Unfortunately take a second glance, and the argument falls apart. But don’t despair, corn might not be the panacea some say it is, but there are alternatives out there.
Trade is important. The world’s agricultural nations don’t like the food subsidies applied by the US and EU. Quite rightly, they say, it gives farmers in Europe and the US unfair advantages, and that the subsidies are keeping the developing countries down by removing their biggest opportunity to trade their way to wealth.
But yesterday media mogul Ted Turner said something that has got the world thinking. He said: “Biofuels could do more than fight problems like pollution and global warming. They can also provide wealthy countries with a means of keeping their farmers in business, instead of subsidizing products that can be grown more cheaply in poor countries, products like cotton, sugar beet, sugar cane and rice.”
The price of biofuel crops are soaring. As the world looks for alternatives to oil, the price of these alternatives will rise. However, there’s a snag. People eat corn too, and for the poor it is being priced out of reach in some regions and that, many argue, is just not ethical.
But, by limiting corn subsidies to biofuel crops, the problem could be solved. The West could subside this new, previously unconsidered use for corn, and thereby allow corn as a food product to trade freely on the open market. The trade talks can then be kickstarted, and since some economists believe the stalemate in the Doha round of trade talks represents the biggest single threat to the global economy, we will all be able to celebrate.
But here’s the snag. An increasing body of scientific opinion is fearing that corn as a fuel does not help reduce carbon emission.
First of all, corn requires a lot of land. According to Worldwatch, if 9 percent of all agricultural land across the world was devoted to growing corn to create biofuel, a mere 10 percent of transport fuel would be biofuel based. Other studies indicate the world would need twice as much land as it currently has, to grow enough corn to solve the energy crisis.
Other scientists argue corn is not efficient. According to David Pimentel at Cornwall University New York, ethanol creates more greenhouse gases than burning fossil fuels. While other scientists disagree, and think it isn’t that bad, the point is well made. Corn, with its requirement for artificial fertilisers and other mass farming techniques, is no miracle cure to the problem of fuel heating up the world.
Never mind that - what about sugar? Brazil already sees it that way, and two thirds of all cars in Brazil run on biofuel, and the big sugar producer is set to export this crop as a sweet alternative to oil.
But here too there’s a problem. Sugar is a thirsty beast, and the growth of sugar can lead to water shortages, as is currently occurring in regions of India.
But the big snag with sugar, and indeed with corn is this. The land used to grow the crops is often former rainforest. The use of sugar as a means of fuelling our cars could lead to further deforestation.
Many believe that deforestation is a far more serious factor behind global warming than the use of fossil fuels, and so, sugar too has big drawbacks.
The answer may not lie with biofuel at all, rather with biodiesel, which is made from certain vegetables oils, such as soybean, palm and rapeseed. Apparently, these crops can be grown without using extreme mass farming techniques and their production is carbon neutral.
Even more exciting is the potential for woody plants such as switch grass or poplar. Watch out for stories in the media about these crops as the world’s press wake up to their potential.
And finally, there’s algae. As it comes from the sea, and let’s face it, there’s plenty of ocean, you don’t need much land to develop it.
Back in 1908, the model T Ford was initially designed to run on ethanol. Before Henry Ford said: “You can have any colour you like providing it’s black,” he was an eco-warrior without knowing it.
All things come in circles, just don’t bet on corn as the next oil.
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