Biofuels and the global food balance

Rising world fuel prices, the growing demand for energy, and  concerns about global warming are the key factors driving the increasing interest in renewable energy sources and in biofuels in particular. But some policymakers and analysts have voiced concern that aggressive growth in biofuel production could "crowd out" production of food crops in some developing countries, creating a tension between the need for energy and the need for food and feed. This brief investigates the interaction between crop demand for biofuel feedstock and the demand and production of crops for both food and feed, in order to see how scenarios for projected growth in biofuel production could affect food availability, prices and consumption at global and regional levels between now and 2020.