Argument: Biofuel production consumes crops that could feed people

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“The Problem With Biofuels”. Washington Post. 27 Feb. 2008 – An essay in the May-June 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs by two professors from the University of Minnesota highlighted still another problem: The biofuels craze could starve people. “By putting pressure on global supplies of edible crops, the surge in ethanol production will translate into higher prices for both processed and staple foods around the world,” they wrote. “If oil prices remain high — which is likely — the people most vulnerable to the price hikes brought on by the biofuel boom will be those in countries that both suffer food deficits and import petroleum.”

Fidel Castro said in May 2007, “Transforming food into fuels is a monstrosity, killing the poor masses through hunger.”[1]