Quarter of US grain ends up at the biofuel pump

A quarter of all the grain crops produced in the US last year ended up being used to make biofuel, according to a new study that will reignite the debate surrounding the wisdom of using food crops to fuel vehicles.

Washington-based environmental think-tank the Earth Policy Institute analysed 2009 figures from the US Department of Agriculture and found the 107 million tons of grain that went to US ethanol distilleries last year represented more than a quarter of all the grain produced in the country.

It added that the amount of grain, mostly corn, used to produce biofuel has tripled since 2004 and with more than 80 new ethanol plants having opened since 2007 and more in the pipeline, the trend is set to continue.

The Institute argued that the use of grain to make biofuel was having a direct impact on global food supplies, noting that the crops used to create ethanol last year could have fed 330 million people.

"The US looms large in the world food economy. It is far and away the world’s leading grain exporter, exporting more than Argentina, Australia, Canada and Russia combined," the analysis stated. "In a globalised food economy, increased demand for food to fuel American vehicles puts additional pressure on world food supplies."

It also calculated that the amount of grain needed to fill the tank of an SUV with ethanol just once can feed one person for an entire year.

The findings will further provoke fears that increased demand for US biofuel will again contribute to food shortages as the global economy recovers.

Increased demand for biofuel was widely criticised as one of the main contributing factors to the 2008 spike in global food prices that led to unrest in a number of countries.

The economic crisis has subsequently led to a fall in food prices, but the Earth Policy Institute warned that they still remain well above long-term average levels and as a result, there are fears that ever-growing demand for first-generation biofuels, coupled with a recovering global economy, could again push up prices to unsustainable levels.