Beyond Food vs. Fuel: FAO Finds Integrated Food and Energy Farming Could Save the Poor and the Planet

Deliver Dispense, Farming/Growing, Field/Orchard/Plantation Crops/Residues, India, Infrastructure, International, Opinions, R & D Focus, Small scale biorefineries, Sustainability

May 17, 2011

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by Joelle Brink (Biofuels Digest Asia) Before the advent of cheap petroleum, farmers often had their own “fuel patch” of local oilseed crops that served as feedstock for the biodiesel needed to power pumps, generator sets, tractors and other farm machinery. Though carbon footprints weren’t measured back then, theirs must have been extremely small given the local, self -sufficient nature of their operations and the fact that their chief transportation cost was moving crops to local markets.
Now that oil prices are soaring, the “food AND energy” model is making a global comeback. So far the movement hasn’t reached corporate farms, but it is being rapidly embraced by small farmers even in the US. In India, the key state of Uttar Pradesh has abandoned the transportation-intensive model of centralized biofuel processing and now teaches farmers to make biodiesel from Jatropha and other oilseeds on the farm, to provide for their own energy needs and serve as a source of income. Oilseed trees like Jatropha, Pongamia Pinata and Neem are especially suited to integrated food and energy farming because they have a lifespan of 30-60 years and their leaves and twigs make an excellent manure that protects food crops against pests and disease. READ MORE FAO Report

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