President Obama, no food for fuel!
Cars consume peoples food
A catastrophic drought dominates in the USA. A large part of the harvest is already destroyed. The shortage of corn leads to rising food prices beyond US borders. US policy worsen the crisis by supporting half of the corn harvest ending as agrofuel instead of on the plate. This means more hunger for the poorest
News and updates Call to actionHalf of the worldwide corn harvest is produced in the USA. Therefrom half of the harvest is used as ethanol motor fuel. The corn grains – and crop such as wheat – is then fermented, the generated alcohol is destilled. This mixture is added to petrol and premium fuel. The crops are no longer available as feed.
The US government not only subsidizes the artificial market for agrofuels with billion Dollar, but also settled a binding blending quota for agrofuels (10%). Therefore more than 50 billion litre ethanol must still be produced this year.
Although agrofuels have a devastating impact on the environment, the industrial monoculture landscapes continuously expand and pollute soil and bodies of water with insecticides and fertilizer. To produce one litre ethanol an average amount of 600 litres of valuable water is needed.
Corn belongs on the plate, not in fuel tanks
The fact is that the agrofuel politics of the USA and EU drive up the worldwide prices for food products and therefore increase the number of the starving. Science and UNO state that agrofuel is destructive. The ongoing drought in the USA and the decreasing harvest of corn is worsening the development dramatically – with catastrophic social impacts.
The current survey “Biofueling Hunger: How US Corn ethanol Policy Drives up food Prices in Mexico” proves this using the example of the neighboring country.
By now one third of Mexicos demand of corn is imported from the USA. In Mexico, tortillas which are made from corn meal are a staple food. Because of the US ethanol-production, already in 2008 the people had protested against the exorbitant prices for corn bread which resulted in the so called tortilla-crisis.
Please write to the US President Obama: Food products do not belong in the fuel tank!
BackgroundThe production of ethanol and other agrofuels competes directly with the cultivation of food products and animal feed. Furthermore all agrofuels are are made of food products such as: Corn, wheat, sugarcane, soybeans, palm oil, canola. Therefore the prices for basic food products constantly rise.
Nevertheless politicians label the system of highly industrialized agriculture and the production of agrofuels as a “big success”. They thereby ignore impacts on ecology, social issues and health issues. Seeing as this form of agriculture is directly dependent on a huge amount of fossil fuels, pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizer. The applied chemicals poison soil and water on a longterm base.
Harvest losses could increase threefold
The worst drought for 50 years already affects 61 percent of the landsurface of the USA. More than 1000 rural districts have proclaimed a state of emergency. Furthermore no rain is expected in foreseeable time, instead rising temperatures and aridity are expected. Within the last few days the US-american Department of Agriculture (USDA) has estimated the crop loss of maize at already 46 million tonnes. Losses, that could double or increase threefold with continuous drought until the end of august. By now the prices for corn and cereals are shooting record high on international commodities exchanges.
Speculators earn money with drought and hunger
The speculators (so called “markets”) still find possibilities to gain huge profits from the considerable decline of harvest. With so called “commodities” they gamble with the rising of prices for food products like maize and wheat, hence keep driving up the prices artificially. They won´t let themselves be stopped with their business dealings, even if it supports world hunger.
With regards to this setting the decisions of the politicians or “markets” are irresponsible and not reasonable in dealing with the development of worldwide agriculture. Corn belongs on the plate not in the fuel tank!
To: President of the United States, Barrack Obama
Appeal to president Obama: Prevent the hunger crisis, stop agrofuel / ethanol
Dear Mr. President,
ethanol from the USA is produced from corn. Cornmeal is the staple food for millions of people worldwide. Millions of people are hungry, because their food is used as motor fuel for cars. The United Nations (UN), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and scientists from all over the world have been claiming to end the competition between fuel tank and food plate for years.
Food products and animal feed are not allowed to be wasted for cars.
Please stop the admixing of agrofuels and cut subsidies and tax benefits!
Best regards
Recent successes