The food versus fuel debate around the biofuel industry is a bogus debate because of increased efficiency in livestock feeding, a Vancouver consultant told a renewable fuels meeting Dec. 5.
Don O’Connor, president of S&T Squared Consulting, told the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association annual convention in Ottawa that millions of acres of land once re-quired to produce coarse grains for feed are no longer needed because of increased livestock feeding efficiency.
The demand for land to grow feed grain is 35 percent less than it was in the 1970s because of increased yields and better livestock feed use efficiency, he added.
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As well, biofuel production creates significant amounts of livestock feed byproduct, further reducing the need for coarse grain production.
So land used to produce coarse grains for ethanol production does not displace land needed to produce food, said O’Connor.
“I would argue that the food supply is more secure now than it was a decade ago.”
His consulting company has a long association with the CRFA, and association chair Tim Haig referred to him as “the only speaker who is so much in demand that he’s invited back year after year.”
O’Connor said the alternative to using the land for biofuel feedstock production is to produce more low-price grain for export, which will compete with producers in developing countries.
“If poverty is directly linked to GDP in developing countries, then I would argue that producing ethanol on that land and not producing grain to compete with local producers will decrease poverty in the developing world,” he said.
