BOCA RATON, Fla. – Media reports of biofuel crop expansion resulting in the destruction of environmentally sensitive lands are bogus and need to be nipped in the bud, say industry proponents.
“We as an industry have to stand up to that. Honestly, we don’t have to buckle down to it,” said Ian Edwards, chief executive officer of Twin River Technologies, a U.S. firm that manufactures biodiesel and other chemicals.
He said the criticism, which is largely coming out of Europe, is misguided and poses a serious threat to the world’s poor if it gains more traction because there will be more pressure to restrict the expansion of cropland.
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“It is a complete load of rubbish. It’s lies and it just spreads malicious rumours,” said Edwards.
“The idea that a fat bloody European bloke is going to deny the right for people to eat with spurious science is just so, so wrong.”
Edwards said biofuel crops can be grown on millions of acres of bush land in Indonesia or on massive tracts of idled land in central and eastern Europe.
Mark Zenuk, corporate vice-president of global oilseeds with Archer Daniels Midland, one of the biggest biodiesel producers in the United States, said there has never been a greater need for acreage expansion.
Yield increases alone will not be enough to satisfy the demand for oilseeds, driven by the emerging biodiesel sector and a global population that is adding 80 million people per year.
Zenuk said it took 2,000 years for the world to hit 117 million tonnes of vegetable oil output. By 2015, the demand will be for 70 percent more.
“If that does not represent a significant development, I’m not sure what event will qualify,” he told delegates attending the 41st annual Canola Council of Canada convention.
ADM estimates between 2006 and 2015, the annual demand for oilseeds will have grown by 54.6 million tonnes, 19.6 million tonnes of which will be met through yield increases. The remainder has to come from expanded oilseed acreage.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations said 12 percent of the world’s 32 billion acres of land is cultivated for crops, 26 percent is used for pasture and the remainder is forest, mountain ranges, desert and human habitat.
Only 33 percent of the total arable land on the planet is under cultivation. Zenuk would like to see more pasture converted to crop production.
In the past 14 years the world has added 114 million acres of cultivated land. While grain and sugar beet acreage have dropped, oilseed acreage has expanded by 136 million acres. In the next 14 years both grain and oilseeds will need more turf.
Zenuk said that can happen without uprooting environmentally sensitive land. He agreed with Edwards that reports of the Amazon jungle being destroyed to make room for corn and soybean crops is bunk.
“A lot of this information is misinformation. It’s very unfortunate.”
There is non-environmentally sensitive land in South America, idled land in Eastern Europe and Ukraine and Conservation Reserve Program land in the United States that can easily be pulled back into production, he said.
