Competition for space

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As competition for land , the competition for surface is referred to by various forms of use generally, particularly with respect to agricultural land. The focus of the discussion about competition for use is the competition between the cultivation of energy crops for the production of bioenergy and the cultivation of food and feed crops.

occasion

The reason for the discussion about competition for land was the food price crisis of 2007–2008 .

In 2007/2008 the world market prices for staple foods skyrocketed. Various voices attributed the price increase to the increased bioenergy demand in Europe and the USA. Critics spoke of competition between “tank” and “plate” (ie between biofuels and food).

There were hunger riots in several countries. In Mexico, rising corn prices led to mass demonstrations ( tortilla crisis ). The sharp increase in the use of corn for bioethanol production in the USA was considered to be an important reason for the sharp rise in tortilla prices in Mexico.

discussion

The price increase was due to several factors. In addition to the increased bioenergy demand, other factors played a role: the growth of the world population, the sharp rise in meat consumption, especially in populous emerging countries such as China and India, a consequence of poor harvests and droughts, the rise in fertilizer prices (due to high oil prices), and speculation the commodity futures exchanges. According to an IFPRI model, increased production of biofuels was responsible for around 30% of the rise in grain prices (especially corn) between 2000 and 2007. The World Bank presented similar figures. However, according to the FAO Food Price Index, the price level on the world markets then fell again, although bioenergy continued to be obtained. World grain stocks increased again in 2014 to 192 million t, equal to a third of the global annual harvest.

Experts from Oxfam , Welthungerhilfe and UNCTAD saw the decisive factor in the speculation on food. “We believe index fund activity ... played a key role in the 2008 price spike. Biofuel also played a certain role, but much less than originally thought, ”said John Baffes in a World Bank working paper . The business ethicist Ingo Pies contradicts this . Empirical evidence suggests that speculation was not responsible for the price increases. Rather, there was an actual real economic shortage of food. The most important reasons for this were the strong economic growth in emerging countries, the introduction of multi-billion dollar subsidy programs for "biofuel" in the USA and the EU and weather-related crop failures.

According to calculations by Michael Schmitz , Professor of Agricultural and Development Policy at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen , only a small part of the rise in food prices is due to the increased demand for biofuels. For a study, he simulated the effects of increased biofuel production on the price level of nine agricultural products in 16 countries by 2020. The price difference determined was 2.1% for wheat, 7.3% for feed grain, 7.1% for oilseeds and Raw sugar 21.2%. No influence at all was found with rice. Biofuels and their promotion could "not be held responsible for hunger and poverty in the world [...] Even their influence on price developments on the world market is limited or only significant in the short term in conjunction with other drivers."

The UN special envoy for the right to food , Jean Ziegler , described the production of bioethanol in an interview with the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation as a crime against humanity (literally: "Bio-fuel production today is a crime against humanity.") And has criticized the cultivation of energy crops as a threatening massacre of people in developing countries. At the same time, he warned of unrest and uprisings in the face of around 850 million starving people. The cultivation of energy crops was also identified at the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund as a threat to food for the world's population. Development aid minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul explained on the sidelines of the conference that the increase in the price of food by one percentage point would put an additional 16 million people at risk of hunger. She also called for the addition of bioethanol to be suspended. According to the United Nations , 1.3 billion tons of food would be thrown in the trash every year, which would be roughly four times as much as necessary to solve the hunger problem in the world. The amount of 300 million tons thrown away annually in the industrialized nations alone would be enough to feed all starving people.

Various observers, such as the political scientist Wolfgang Gründinger , stress that it is excessive and incorrect to hold biofuels responsible for all undesirable developments in international agriculture. The primary competition for land is meat production: In Brazil, 220 million hectares are used as pasture land and 23 million hectares are used for soy fields for fodder. There are only six million hectares of sugar cane plantations, of which only half are used for bioethanol - and this gasoline flows into the tanks of domestic Brazilian ethanol cars and is hardly used for export. Germany alone imports 40 million tons of soy from overseas every year. That takes up around 20 million hectares - as much as a tenth of the EU's total agricultural area. Without the by-products from biofuel production, Germany would have to import almost 50% more soy feed. On the other hand, in the grain markets, the EU is a net exporter in world markets. For the 2012/13 marketing year, EU wheat exports of 16 million tonnes are expected, compared to imports of 5.5 million tonnes.

After 2011, the world agricultural markets eased . The surplus of rice as the most important food grain, of coarse grain for animal feed and wheat rose significantly, according to the UN Agricultural Organization (FAO). The global stocks of these types of grain alone, i.e. the stocks in the warehouses, are expected to total around 564 million tons. At the end of the 2012/13 marketing year it was 497 million tons.

Use competition with animal husbandry

Various agronomists emphasize that the primary competition for use is currently not between “plate and tank”, but between “plate and trough”. "With 8 kg of grain, for example, which are used to produce 1 kg of beef, the competition between the plate and the trough in particular intensifies," says Wilfried Bommert, author of the book Kein Brot für die Welt . On average, seven vegetable calories are needed to produce one calorie of meat. By reducing meat consumption, large areas of cultivation and grain could be used for human nutrition rather than for cattle fattening.

In the Amazon, for example, the cultivation of energy crops (e.g. sugar cane ) is not a significant threat to the rainforests, but rather the cultivation of animal feed and grazing land. According to Greenpeace , a total of 80 percent of rainforest loss in the Amazon is due to animal husbandry.

In addition, animal husbandry alone is responsible for 18 percent of global CO 2 emissions. A reduction in meat consumption could decisively limit climate change and reduce the costs it causes by 20 billion US dollars worldwide.

Use competition with energy crops

Overall, the competition for use between energy and food crops requires a differentiated assessment, as many factors have to be taken into account.

According to the Renewable Energy Potential Atlas presented by the Renewable Energy Agency in January 2010 , the land requirement for bioenergy in Germany will increase from 1.6 million hectares today to 3.7 million hectares in 2020, with 15% of the total German electricity, Heat and fuel requirements can be covered by bioenergy. The supply of food is never endangered. "Despite the increasing share of bioenergy, there are significant surpluses in the grain harvest in Germany and the EU every year," says Daniela Thrän from the German Biomass Research Center (DBFZ) . “The productivity in agriculture continues to rise on average. In addition, there are residual materials such as straw, liquid manure or scrap wood as well as fallow land - the potential for bioenergy is still very large. ”According to surveys of various EU agricultural research projects, more than 20 million hectares will be free by 2020 that can be used for energy crops .

According to estimates by the World Food Organization ( FAO ), energy crops are grown on around 30 million hectares (approx. 2% of the world's arable land). Currently, only 5% of the global grain harvest is used to produce biofuels. Only 1.6% of the European grain harvest is used for biofuels. The greater part (58%) is used for animal feed. In view of these proportions, the competition for use between food and energy crops is currently not acute.

If the expansion continues, however, growing competition for use can be expected in the future. This could lead to increased food prices. In the medium term, however, higher prices for agricultural products are seen as positive for agriculture - especially in developing countries. At the moment, domestic products are often not competitive with the subsidized and therefore cheaper agricultural imports from industrialized countries, so that farmers become unemployed and agricultural land cannot be used economically.

The use of degraded land and the use of agricultural residues can reduce competition for land. In the future production of fuels from vegetable waste (cellulose-ethanol, BTL fuel), the competition for use is significantly lower.

Consequences in Germany

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In 2010, maize was grown on 2.3 million hectares in Germany. Over three quarters were used for animal feed production. Only the smaller part was accounted for by the cultivation of energy maize for biogas plants.

The competition in use is also leading to a rise in prices for these products in Germany. Rising lease or purchase prices for agricultural land can often be observed in individual regions of Germany where the cultivation of energy maize has increased significantly. Sometimes there are conflicts.

Palm oil plantation in Malaysia
If primeval forest is cleared for palm oil plantations, the PME is 2.5 times more harmful to the climate than diesel made from fossil crude oil. If the palm trees grow on previously unused grassland, the climate balance improves

Strategies to defuse

Limit food waste

Worldwide, 1.3 billion tons of food are thrown away every year. That would be about half of all food and enough to feed three billion people, according to the UN agricultural organization FAO. In Europe and Russia, for example, consumers dispose of an average of 95 kilograms per person per year, the food industry 186 kilograms. In Germany, every citizen throws away an average of 82 kilograms worth EUR 235 per year, according to a study by the Ministry of Consumers. With a reduction in waste and greater efficiency in the transport and distribution of food, world hunger could be significantly defused.

Coupling and cascading use

If a product and its by-products can be used for different uses in parallel, this is referred to as combined use . An example is the use of rapeseed oil as a food or energy source and the use of rapeseed cake or rapeseed meal as animal feed. By cascade use, on the other hand, one understands a sequential material and energetic use, whereby the energetic use (combustion) is only at the end of the product cycle. Both strategies lead to an increase in added value per area and thus to a defuse of the competition for areas and uses. Applied research in this area is therefore funded by the BMELV as part of the Federal Government's funding program for renewable raw materials .

Certification

In order to limit the use and destruction of natural ecosystems, the EU Directive 2009/28 / EC (Renewable Energy Directive) of the European Union required that biomass for use as biofuel and for the generation of bioenergy must meet certain sustainability criteria in the future , such as a minimum saving potential for greenhouse gases , conservation of biodiversity , compliance with social standards. In Germany, these requirements for electricity production were met by the Biomass Electricity Sustainability Ordinance of July 29, 2009. Similarly, the Biofuel Sustainability Ordinance of September 30, 2009 (Federal Law Gazette I 3182) was issued. In addition, the German Advisory Council on Global Change calls for a global land use standard, i. H. a standard for the sustainability of land use that includes all types of use (food and feed, energetic and material use). The director of the Federal Environment Agency, Jochen Flasbarth, explained: "If the demands placed on all agricultural uses were as high as those placed on biofuel, then we would live in a better world."

Avoiding soy imports through biofuels

When bioenergy is grown from rapeseed, grain and sugar beet in Germany, so-called by-products are produced in addition to the fuel itself and are used as animal feed. Rapeseed meal or rapeseed cake from biodiesel production as well as dry grain vinasse and beet pulp / molasses from bioethanol production are suitable as valuable protein feed in cattle breeding and thus replace imports of soy meal from overseas. This reduces the pressure on arable land in other countries and reduces the pressure to clear rainforests. At present (2010) plants for domestic biofuel production are growing on an area of ​​1.2 million hectares in Germany. This produced 2.0 million tonnes of biofuels and 2.3 million tonnes of feed (soy feed equivalent). To feed the cattle, pigs and chickens kept in Germany, a total of 5.1 million tons of soy feed was imported in 2010, of which 4.2 million tons from South America and 0.9 million tons from the rest of the world. In South America in particular, soy cultivation is often associated with the destruction of the rainforest and unsustainable cultivation methods.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de/index.php?id=3520
  2. ↑ a b c d OECD: Growing bio-fuel demand underpinning higher agriculture prices, says joint OECD-FAO report , April 7, 2007; based on OECD-FAO: OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2007-2016 ( PDF; 779 kB ).
  3. ↑ Mitchell, Donald: A Note on Rising Food Prices. April 8, 2008.
  4. ↑ Viktoria Thumann: Agro-fuel: Propulsion means for world hunger. ( Memento from August 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) On Greenpeace.de, October 16, 2007.
  5. ↑ Sigrid Totz: No, agro fuel is not organic. ( Memento of March 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Greenpeace, March 10, 2008.
  6. ↑ - Report on the tortilla crisis, Heise Online, January 29, 2007
  7. ↑ Hildegard Stausberg: The US thirst for ethanol triggers the tortilla crisis. In: Die Welt Online. February 5, 2007.
  8. ↑ Message from the Sustainability Council .
  9. ↑ PDF at www.ifpri.org ( Memento from January 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).
  10. ↑ Silvia Liebrich: The World Bank and the dispute over biofuel. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. 4th July 2008.
  11. ↑ Food and Agriculture Organization: Nominal price development ( MS Excel ; 95 kB)
  12. ↑ Food and Agriculture Organization: Real Price Development ( Memento from February 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) ( MS Excel ; 95 kB).
  13. ↑ FAO Food Outlook 2014 .
  14. ↑ Oxfam Fact Sheet (PDF; 200 kB)
  15. ↑ Welthungerhilfe food study ( Memento from December 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ UNCTAD (2009): The global economic crisis: systemic failures and multilateral remedies. Chapter III: Managing the financialization of commodity futures trading. P. 38.
  17. ↑ John Baffes, Tassos Haniotis, Placing the 2006/08 Commodity Price Boom into Perspective, Policy Research Working Paper, The World Bank's Development Prospects Group, July 2010, p. 20
  18. ↑ Ingo Pies, The civil society campaign against financial speculation with agricultural raw materials , Chair of Business Ethics at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 2012. See also Business Ethicist accuses NGO of sloppy research , Süddeutsche Zeitung August 26, 2012 and Die Moral der Agrar-Spekulation , FAZ August 31, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Biofuels are not the scapegoats" , VDI nachrichten, March 9, 2012 .
  20. ^ Institute for Agricultural Policy: Determinants for the level and volatility of agricultural commodity prices on international markets. Implications for world food and policy making (PDF; 3.4 MB) , University of Gießen, 2012.
  21. ↑ Hunger crises due to rising food prices?  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.br-online.de   BR-Online, April 13, 2008.
  22. ↑ "Throwing away food is pointless". Report on Zeit Online, January 22, 2013 .
  23. ↑ Speech by Wolfgang Gründinger at the Bioenergy Symposium 2011 in Düsseldorf (PDF; 84 kB); Asendorf, Dirk: Our greed for food. Die Zeit No. 51/2011, p. 47f.
  24. ↑ Renewable Energy Agency: Agricultural Markets 2013. Background paper , PDF .
  25. ↑ Food Outlook - BIANNUAL REPORT ON GLOBAL FOOD MARKETS .
  26. ↑ Green round table for animal welfare ( memento from July 26, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ).
  27. ↑ Greenpeace Brazil (Ed.) Amazon Cattle Footprint, Mato Grosso: State of Destruction .
  28. ↑ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Ed.): Livestock's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options .
  29. ↑ Elke Stehfest, Lex Bouwman, Detlef P. van Vuuren, Michel GJ den Elzen, Bas Eickhout, Pavel Kabat: Climate benefits of changing diet. In: Climatic Change. 95, 2009, p. 83, doi : 10.1007 / s10584-008-9534-6 .
  30. ↑ Background paper : Critique of biofuels in the fact check (October 2013) .
  31. ^ Agency for Renewable Energies: Bioenergy 2020 Potential Atlas. PDF .
  32. ↑ Potential atlas: Making space for renewables , Klimaretter.info of January 14, 2010.
  33. ↑ Alterra / IIASA: Atlas of EU biomass potentials. Download (PDF) ( Memento from May 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  34. ↑ EU research project 4FCrops ( Memento of 5 July 2015, Internet Archive ).
  35. ↑ FAO / Töpfer quoted from the Renewable Energy Agency: The full view of bioenergy . Berlin 2008, p. 6.
  36. ↑ EU Cereal Management Committee 2008.
  37. ↑ UN-Energy: Sustainable Bioenergy. A Framework for Decision Makers ( p. 36 PDF; 1.01 MB ( Memento of March 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )).
  38. ↑ n-tv.de: It doesn't work without biofuel, Interview with Uwe Lahl , April 2, 2009.
  39. ^ Agency for Renewable Energies: Global Use of Bioenergy - Potentials and Usage Paths . Berlin 2009, p. 9.
  40. ↑ Agency for Renewable Raw Materials: Maize Cultivation in Germany ( Memento from August 11, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ).
  41. ↑ D. Breuer 2007: The competition for the use of agricultural land: Renewable raw materials for energetic use versus the processing industry (PDF; 2.9 MB), ISN - Interest Group of Pig Keepers Germany eV
  42. ↑ VDI news: Biofuels are a hit worldwide. September 9, 2011, issue 36, p. 10.
  43. ^ FAO: Global Food Losses and Food Waste. 2011 .
  44. ↑ BMELV: Determination of the amount of food thrown away and suggestions for reducing the throw-away rate for food in Germany. 2012 .
  45. ↑ Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV): Announcement on the funding of applied research in the field of renewable raw materials as part of the Federal Government's funding program “Renewable raw materials” on the focus “Innovative multiple use of renewable raw materials, biorefineries” from April 24th 2008, online  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.fnr-server.de  
  46. ↑ Ordinance on requirements for sustainable production of biofuels (Biofuel Sustainability Ordinance - Biokraft-NachV) of September 30, 2009 Federal Law Gazette I 3182 (PDF; 168 kB).
  47. ↑ Scientific Advisory Council of the Federal Government on Global Change (WBGU) 2008: Sustainable Bioenergy and Sustainable Land Use (PDF; 25.3 MB)
  48. ↑ Film on the Sustainability Ordinance .
  49. ↑ Tagesspiegel, March 7, 2011; see. also Renews Compact Oct. 2013 , p. 8.
  50. ↑ Figures and graphics from the Renewable Energy Agency .