This document discusses the challenges of biofuel production related to food security and energy demands. It notes that while biofuels are a renewable source of energy, the increased demand for biofuels is putting pressure on global agricultural markets and food prices. Models are being used to analyze the effects of biofuel production on food availability, trade, and food security. Large-scale production of biomass, algae, and seaweed for biofuels could help meet energy needs but also impact water, nutrient cycles and social factors.

1. A Cautionary Approach to Biofuel Production:
The Dilemma of Food Security and Energy Demands
Presentation by Nadia B. Ahmad
Technology and Sustainable Development
March 6, 2012

2. What are biofuels?
• Any fuel that is derived from
biomass—that is, plant material
or animal waste.
• Since such feedstock material
can be replenished readily,
biofuel is considered to be a
source of renewable energy,
unlike fossil fuels.

3. The US committed
$510 million over
the next 3 years to
advancing biofuels
into a more usable
form available for
use by commercial
and military aircraft,
bringing private and
public investment to
just over $1 billion.

5. Agricultural Demands
• The effects of growing biofuel demand are interwoven
with tightening grain markets, which reflect demographic
shifts and improved diets.
• In developing countries, as populations grow and incomes
rise, diet preferences are shifting from staple crops to
higher-value products like meat and dairy.
• As a result, the demand for grain- and protein-based
animal feed is soaring and competing with food needs.
• These changes have led to increasing pressures on
global agricultural markets and higher food costs.

6. Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities
• Since the early 1990s, International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI) has used the International Model for Policy
Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) to
examine the effects of water availability and climate change on
the global food supply, demand, trade, prices, and food security.
• IMPACT is a key component in IFPRI’s scenario analysis of
biofuels but will also be coupled with other global and country-
level market and land-use models to evaluate important
economy wide and environmental linkages.
• Several models have been used together with IMPACT in
developing and analyzing projections, and land-use models are
being developed to examine the trade-offs between agricultural
and nonagricultural land-use activities.

7. Global Per Capita Cereal and Energy Consumption Versus
Per Capita Income (2003-2004) (Source: World Bank)
Per capita energy
consumption in
kilograms of oil
equivalent.
Per capital cereal
consumption in
kilograms.
Per Capital Income (US dollars)

8. Impact on Food Prices
• The potential for farmers’ wages to increase in
developing countries is real, but the possibility
also exists that food prices will increase and
create even more hardships on poor consumers.
• “In both current and longer term projections, we
see there is going to be an upward expansion in
food prices,” says Marc Rosegrant, division
director at the International Food Policy Research
Institute.

11. BIOMASS

12. DENNIS SCHROEDER/NREL

13. ALGAE

15. SEAWEED

17. Conclusions
• The scale of the biomass, algae and seaweed resources are
significant in terms of current global energy consumption.
• Fuller exploitation of these resources has major implications for
energy, climate and food security.
• It will also have significant impacts on the global bio-physical
cycles e.g. water, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium; and also
on social factors.
• Some positive outcomes can occur by default i.e. without
substantive policy intervention e.g. energy security, others will
require enhanced policies and regulation.
• Lignocellulosic biofuel technologies will enable more of the
biomass resource to be accessed; many benefits but also a
number of threats.

18. Sources
1. “Biofuel,” Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/967492/biofuel.
2. “Fuel to Replace Gasoline and Diesel,” Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy, October 17, 2005,
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/facts/2005/fcvt_fotw394.html.
3. “Biofuels and food security: Balancing needs for food, feed, and fuel,” International Policy
and Food Research Institute,
http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/bioenergybro.pdf.
4. International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT),
International Food Policy Research Institute,
http://www.ifpri.org/publication/international-model-policy-analysis-agricultural-
commodities-and-trade-impact-0.
5. Rosamond L. Naylor, “The Ripple Effect: Biofuels, Food Security, and the Environment,”
Environment, Vol. 49 no. 9, page(s) 30-43, November 2007, http://iis-
db.stanford.edu/pubs/22064/Naylor_et_al_Env.pdf.
6. Katie Howell, “Is Algae the Fuel of the Future?” Scientific American, April 28, 2009,
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=algae-biofuel-of-future.