Battle Between Food and Fuel
By Astrid BarnetThe production of ethanol from corn is extending intensively in the world. An example of this is that some 3.3 million hectares of land are used in the United States with a massive requirement of energy for fertilizers among others to produce 10.6 billion liters of ethanol which only provides 2 percent of gasoline a year for automobiles.
Recent data from the fifty states believe that the production of ethanol lacks net energy benefits and requires more fossil energy to produce it compared to the real product. To summarize, due to the relatively low energy density of ethanol, approximately three gallons of this product are needed to re place two of gasoline. However, the US production of ethanol will only benefit annually the giant agricultural businesses.
According to statistics, in 1980 taxes were introduced for this product, but made an exception of 54 cents for each gallon for those used in naphtha with 10 percent of ethanol, bringing along 10 billion dollars of subsidy for the Archer Daniels Midland Transnational. In 2003, over 50 percent of the US ethanol refineries belonged to agricultural groups and in 2006, 80 percent of them were in the hands of corporations with some 556 million dollars in projected earnings, benefiting the largest producers.
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Summing up, in the battle between food and fuel, the poor and those that suffer from hunger in the developing countries, the prices of food will remain at the mercy of the empire for the large population groups.
Proof of this is the increase in the prices of corn which, proportionately rose in a recent increase (400 percent) of the price of tortilla in Mexico, member of NAFTA and as is evident, also subjected to the commercial dictates of Washington.
http://www.periodico26.cu/english/opinion/food-fuel121407.htm