Beyond food versus fuel

According to the 2008 World Bank report A Note on rising food prices, although biofuels are the most important factor, there is good evidence to suggest that other factors, such as stock market speculation and extreme climatic events, have helped to drive up the price of food since 2002. According to Angela Karp, scientific director of the Centre for Bioenergy and Climate Change at the Harpenden-based Rothampsted Research, the largest agricultural research centre in the UK, first-generation biofuels also tend to require intensive inputs, such as water and nitrogen, and this has an impact on their greenhouse gas emissions.