A piece of bad news from the biofuels end. Staff scientist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institure, William Laurance, has claimed in the organization’s blog that “Amazon deforestation and fires are being aggravated by US farm subsidies”.
According to Laurance, a recent spike in Amazonian fires is a direct consequence of massive US subsidies that promote American corn production for ethanol. “Amazon fires and forest destruction have spiked over the last several months, especially in the main soy-producing states in Brazil,” said Laurance. “Just about everyone there attributes this to rising soy and beef prices.” A drop-off in US soy, where farmers are favoring corn, has helped to drive a major increase in global soy prices, which have nearly doubled in the last 14 months. Brazil is the world’s second-largest soy producer.
Forests are cleared for soy farms. Farmers also buy and convert many cattle ranches into soy farms, effectively pushing the ranchers further into the Amazonian frontier. Finally, wealthy soy farmers are lobbying for major new Amazon highways to transport their soybeans to market, and this is increasing access to forests for loggers and land speculators.
This is dreadful news, especially when you are reminded that American tax payers spends US$11 billion a year to subsidize corn producers. This unfortunate, undesired consequence of the search for alternative, non-fossil fuels once again highlights the importance of research and investment into solar power and other sources of energy that don’t require agricultural-style cropping.
