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Page added on February 12, 2007
A battle over biofuels
Don’t underestimate farmers and science While nearly 80 percent of Americans favor increased use of ethanol to ease our “addiction” to oil, there is still concern that ethanol’s demand for corn will create grain shortages that drive up the cost of food.
It is a question that once again will challenge the abilities of agriculture to increase grain production in ways that are economically efficient and environmentally sustainable.
Eighty years ago, the development of hybrid corn sparked a revolution that allowed farm production to outpace rapidly growing global population. The question today is whether agriculture, with advanced seeds, new technologies and improved management practices, can meet its food and feed objectives and deliver a stable, sustainable fuel supply through ethanol, biodiesel and other biofuel production.
There is no easy answer to the energy challenge, so it is important to see the whole picture, especially when food sources are being considered as fuel. Energy conservation and the development of new energy sources must be fully researched. It also is essential to know what we can expect from agriculture, a sophisticated, research-based field that our non-agrarian society may not fully appreciate. Many of the top seed-industry players, for example, invest as much in research as a pharmaceutical company per dollar of sales. Agricultural research, both public and private, has one primary goal – to increase productivity to meet growing demand.
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