Seems like all the news sources are talking about a world-wide food shortage. Part of the problem is some food markets are still hampered by really bad distribution that results in food rotting. In places like Japan which has little land to start with, many of their farmers are retiring and not being replaced. Already Japan imports 1/3 of their food. The other problem is that many farmers are now growing crops to be used to produce fuel. But when you look at the amount of stored energy in oil compared to what is required to replace that with biofuels, it is likely that biofuels will only be a tiny part of the overall alternative energy solution in the future. Since this information has been available for 5 years, it does make you wonder why the current push for biofuels is considered a good idea.

Don’t get me wrong. Alternative energy sources need to be found and even subsidized if necessary during their early and expensive research periods. But we need to realize that such work is not being done in a vacuum. Food may be readily abundant in the US, but it is not in other areas for a variety of reasons.

Let’s hope that we figure that out before anyone starves to death.

Technorati tags: biofuel, energy, oil