Corn ethanol is cast as a culprit in rising food prices (again) A Financial Times report from the Commodity Markets Council annual meeting (this week in Palm Beach) notes that Dodd-Frank financial system reforms top the list of worries for the commodities futures...
Sizing up the Usual Suspects
Sorting out possible causes as yet another global food crisis looms The world’s poorest are at risk of being priced out of the market for food because … we’re burning corn and other staple crops for biofuel … the rising middle classes in the BRICs and beyond are...
A Cassava by Any Other Name
Yuca, manioc, tapioca … it’s still one versatile tuber Cassava (manihot esculenta) is getting a lot of attention as a pro-poor biofuel that could be a comer in the international ethanol market. But the tropical plant’s starchy root has myriad uses and figures...
From Few to Many
Approximately 80% of world potash is traded across borders Every farmer needs it, but there are few producers of potash, one of the three essential components of fertilizer (the other two are nitrogen and phosphate). According to Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.,...