Scientist sees few benefits from biofuels

Rising production of biofuels has distorted government budgets, helped to drive up food prices and led to deforestation in south-east Asia, the chief scientist of Defra said on Friday.

“The way we are currently producing biofuels is not the way to go,” former World Bank chief scientist Robert Watson said, citing the U.S. ethanol programme and German support for biodiesel as among the least cost effective.
Watson told the Oxford Farming Conference that biofuels production from sugar cane in Brazil may be one of the only sustainable current methods.

He added that there needed to be aggressive research and development and in five to 10 years time it was possible that new, better technologies could be commercially viable.

Watson said climate change in the short-term was favourable for UK agriculture, lengthening the growing season but overall would be detrimental for the farming sector.

“A changing climate overall is likely to be negative for the agricultural sector and demands a significant amount of adaptation,” he said.

Christian Today