In a move sure to gain the appreciation of at least some hunger activists, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard and Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger announced that The European Commission will be limiting crop-based biofuels to just 5 percent of transport fuel until at least the year 2020. Activists have been railing against the use of crops and other food sources for fuel as millions go hungry around the world.

“Finally the European commissioners have come to their senses,” said Clare Coffey, policy adviser at ActionAid. “They are firmly acknowledging that using precious food and agricultural land to fuel our cars is bad for people and bad for the environment. In a world where a billion go to bed hungry every night, that is immoral.”

While the limits will be put in place for crop-based fuels once passed by EU governments and lawmakers, development of other biofuels will move forward towards a goal of having at least 10 percent of the fuel mix be from renewable sources by 2020. According to a statement by Oettinger at a recent meeting of EU energy ministers, the difficulty in that will be finding sources that are as cheap to produce as crop-based ones currently used.

The United Nation’s food agency recently called for the U.S. to change its policies on crop-based biofuels because of the danger of a worldwide food crisis, but it seems the European Union is the only one taking that advice to heart. “We cannot continue to burn food in our petrol tanks while poor families go hungry,” said Natalia Alonso from Oxfam. Truer words aren’t spoken too often and we definitely need to speed up the development and production of non-food-based biofuel sources.

[via The Guardian]

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Scientists created this “Frankenstein” grass by inserting a specific corn gene into the switchgrass. The gene keeps the grass from aging, leaving it to languish in its youthful starchiness without entering its adult phases of flowering, seed production and growth. The starch that would otherwise be used by the plant for nourishing flower buds and blossoms stays in the stem instead.

In addition to getting the crops just right, the research team is also monitoring water use needed to grow these crops, recognizing that “water availability could be the single most limiting factor in U.S. biomass production.”

This high-efficiency ingredient will make biofuel production less costly, possibly even giving it the needed boost to compete with petroleum-based fuels. As Revmodo has covered, the Navy is currently working to transition to biofuels and other forms of clean energy. Those efforts have been met with Republican opposition from Congressmen who claim it’s a concern over costs: using ethanol and other biofuels costs significantly more than conventional fuels.

The scientists involved in the project are optimistic that the switchgrass will be established as a reliable bioenergy crop, leading the U.S. to energy independence. Ann Perry from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service said, “I’m glad that so many scientists are now working together on ways of establishing switchgrass as a bioenergy crop that can help the United States develop its own renewable energy sources.”

This new switchgrass gives hope to the idea that biofuel production could one day be cost-competitive, making arguments like the Republicans’ less convincing, biofuel use more widespread, and the world greener for everyone.

Main photo credit: HJ Schneider/Shutterstock

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A study by researchers at Stanford University, the World Bank and Purdue University found that open trading policies will benefit nations around the globe as climate shifts become more dramatic and new countries become better equipped to grow and distribute crops like corn.

Tanzania, for example, is poised to grow increasingly wet, while major consumer countries like the United States, China and India are predicted to become hot and dry. The African nation could take advantage of this climate shift by growing and exporting corn to countries expected to become too arid to grow the crop themselves.

But these benefits are only possible with open trade policies, the study found. Trade restrictions would prevent countries like Tanzania from importing the crops it needs in bad climate years and taking advantage of economic opportunities in good climate years.

There are currently several policies in place that restrict trade in Tanzania.

“This study highlights how government policies can influence the impact that we experience from the climate system” said study co-author Noah Diffenbaugh, an assistant professor of environmental Earth system science at Stanford. “Tanzania is a particularly interesting case, as it has the potential to benefit from climate change if climate model predictions of decreasing drought in East Africa prove to be correct, and if trade policies are constructed to take advantage of those new opportunities.”

Main photo credit: Fanny Schertzer

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Among the hundreds of sections and amendments that make up these bills, the biotech industry (read: Monsanto) recently used its financial and political influence to insert a provision that would give companies free rein to plant, harvest and sell GMO crops before they are deemed safe by the USDA.

Ironically dubbed the “Farmers Assurance Provision,” Section 733 of the Agriculture Appropriations Bill has nothing to do with protecting farmers (at least not the ones in the overalls you were imagining earlier). Instead, this amendment will ”make it much easier for [Monsanto] to push their GMO crops without any government oversight, while farmers who use traditional farming methods will be faced with regulations Monsanto will be immune from.”

And that’s not all. According to the Gerson Institute, ”if any GMO crops are found harmful by a court of law, the USDA is forced to allow continued planting of the proven dangerous crops. The provision goes even further and bans the court from suggesting that the USDA take action against any agricultural policies that may be harmful to the environment or farmers.”

In the Farm Bill, the Monsanto Rider, as it’s been dubbed by critics, would outlaw any review of genetically engineered crops’ impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), or any other environmental law, or by any other agency other than USDA. Okay, well, at least the USDA would be checking up on them, right? Wrong. Another provision bars the USDA’s analysis of potential harmful impacts from informing any approval decision.

Although biotech companies like Monsanto and Dow Chemical would have preferred for these little nuggets to remain buried among pages of legislation, food safety advocates all over the country have been hard at work, informing the public about what’s at stake if these provisions pass.

“They are trying to change the rules,” said George Kimbrell, senior attorney at the Center for Food Safety, which has lawsuits pending against government regulators for failing to follow the law in approving certain biotech crops. “It is to the detriment of good governance, farmers and to the environment.”

Reuters reports that the U.S. House of Representatives could vote on Section 733 as early as next week. Take action: Tell Congress not to let Big Agriculture write it’s own rules.

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“If we are to meet the predicted increase in the demand for food with diminishing areas of land available for production and increasing strain on natural resources, we need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past that created higher yields by sacrificing the environment” said Campaign to Protect Rural England campaigner Ian Woodhurst.

According to the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), using less energy and water in food production; increasing crop yields; introducing more innovative technology; improving conservation management; and boosting numbers of talented, entrepreneurial young people making careers in the food industry are all foundational steps to creating a sustainable food system in Britain.

Dubbed the “Green Food Project,” this research examined five different sectors of the UK food industry — wheat, dairy, bread, curry, and geographical areas — to identify areas where improvements could save time, money, and reduce environmental impact, while also using land more efficiently.

When it comes to bread, for example, experts suggest significant amounts of energy could be saved if new more energy efficient toasters are invented. To help meet demand for curry, experts suggested that Britain’s farmers could grow more herbs and spices as the UK’s climate changes, or chickpeas for roti-bread flour.

Still, there are some who feel that the Green Food Project must be more specific with its recommendations if the initiative is to make a significant difference. The WWF environmental group said that the project’s recommendations — for improvements in areas such as research and technology, investment, land management, waste and consumption — were too vague. “WWF felt some of the project’s recommendations were woolly in places and lacked specific targets and milestones,” it said in a statement.

Supporters of the Project say they’re not trying to fix the broken food system, but rather embrace a new methodology in which the whole food chain pulls together to work in harmony. In an effort to provide clearer goals and to develop policy jointly with industry and civil society at a much earlier stage, the Green Food Project steering group says it will now meet regularly to bring about change.

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