Info from Bureau of National
Affairs
The U.S.
government does not believe
that subsidies for biofuels
are responsible for global
food shortages,
Environmental Protection
Agency Administrator Stephen
Johnson said April 29.
As
corn, soybean, and other
crops are increasingly used
to produce biofuels, many
commentators in Europe and
elsewhere have asserted that
this phenomenon contributes
both to soaring food prices
in Europe and shortages in
the developing world, as
agricultural producers shift
their production to
higher-priced fuel crops.
Johnson disagreed with this
assessment in an interview
at the end of a two-day
meeting in Paris, France of
the environment policy
committee of the
Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development.
"I
think that at this point
it's an overstatement to say
that it's biofuel production
that's causing food
shortages," Johnson said.
Agricultural economists who
have been evaluating the
situation look at a variety
of factors, "and at this
point biofuels is very, very
low on that list of major
contributors [to food
shortages]."
Johnson said the United
States has to balance
several goals in its fuels
strategy.
"One
is we have energy security
that we have to address. We
have environmental
protection ... to address.
[And] we have to make sure
that we provide enough food,
and continue to provide
enough food. So all of those
interests come together, and
we believe that with
biofuels we can achieve all
of those without
compromising energy
security, the environment,
or the amount of food that
needs to be developed and
provided to the world."
