Brown hints at rethink on drive for biofuels

Apr 23 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown indicated yesterday that the Government’s enthusiasm for biofuels may be waning, amid concerns that the increasing use of farmland for energy crops is playing a big part in the global surge in food prices.

At the Food Prices Summit in London, the PM called for co-ordinated international action to deal with a world food crisis which has made hunger the globe’s number-one threat to public health.

And Mr Brown said that the UK will need to be “more selective in our support for biofuels”, which have been pushed as a major weapon in the fight against global warming.

Just days after Britain implemented the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, requiring petrol and diesel to contain a proportion of biofuels, Mr Brown said that the new-style fuels were frequently energy-inefficient.

He said: “We need to look closely at the impact on food prices and the environment of different production methods and to ensure we are more selective in our support.

“If our UK review shows that we need to change our approach, we will push for change in EU biofuels targets.”

The Prime Minister also called for an agricultural revolution involving not only technological solutions to allow poor farmers to grow higher-yielding crops but also investment in storage facilities and roads to ensure they get to market.

John Goodfellow, North East National Farmers’ Union crops representative, disagreed with Mr Brown’s assessment.

Mr Goodfellow, 34, who runs a mixed farm at Longwitton, near Morpeth, told The Journal: “Only 1% of crops planted across the world last year were biofuels but the price of wheat has doubled in the past year. That just shows the irrelevancy of biofuels in contributing to high food prices and supply problems.

“The problems have been caused by a lack of investment for many years in the industry so that farmers are now unable to keep up with the demand.”

Yesterday’s summit brought together international organisations like the World Food Programme and African Development Bank with campaigners like Oxfam and Save the Children, consumer bodies, as well as the National Farmers Union and supermarket Sainsbury’s.

In an article on the Downing Street website, Mr Brown said that British shopping bills have been forced up by the increase in global food prices, now at their highest since 1945.