One quarter of US grain crops fed to cars - not people, new figures showNew analysis of 2009 US Department of Agriculture figures suggests biofuel revolution is impacting on world food supplies
John Vidal, environment editor guardian.co.uk, Friday 22 January 2010 15.09 GMT Article history
According to Brown, the growing demand for US ethanol derived from grains helped to push world grain prices to record highs between late 2006 and 2008. In 2008, the Guardian revealed a secret World Bank report that concluded that the drive for biofuels by American and European governments had pushed up food prices by 75%, in stark contrast to US claims that prices had risen only 2-3% as a result.
Since then, the number of hungry people in the world has increased to over 1 billion people, according to the UN's World Food programme.