Iris Kelly

Land Use Change Due to Biofuel Production

Biofuels are fuels that come from plants. Plants require land and
energy to produce. An increased demand on biofuels causes a change in
farm land from food production to fuel production. This land use change
means that less agriculture land is available to feed our ever growing
population. To support feed and fuel production, new agricultural land must
be created and forests are chopped and burned to create space for fields.
The use of biofuels dates back to the beginning of the internal
combustion engine, however the problems with biofuels are much more
resent. In the United States corn is a widely grown crop for food and animal
feed. With an increased demand for ethanol, corn that was for consumption
is now going into the engine. This decrease in food production has caused an
increase of corn prices. This translates to higher cost of milk, meat, and even
cereals due to the fact that animals are fed a high corn diet. The
socioeconomic issues are far reaching. With an increase in demand and a
need to keep fuel prices low, job quality for farmers and migrant workers will
drop (Lora, 2011). If people have no natural forests to go to and no money to
support their families then they will suffer.
The environmental downfalls of ethanol production include the
problems with monoculture farming and the destruction of pristine forests
and other ecosystems to create agriculture land. According to Joaquim Bento
de Souza Ferreira Filho and Mark Horridge in a journal article titled Ethanol

expansion and indirect land use change in Brazil, Ethanol production in

Brazil doubled in the period between years 1990 and 2009. This increased
demand for ethanol lead to an increased need for agricultural land and
further deforestation. This environmental destruction is referred to as direct
land use change. This land change releases carbon through vegetation
destruction and soil aeration from tiling (Kendall & Chang, 2009).
The group of stakeholders involved in this problem is expansive.
Included are farmers, energy consumers, government agencies, and the
wildlife and ecosystem. The government agencies are the key stakeholders
because they are the one who can decide new policies on requirements for
biofuel use. The primary stakeholders are again the government and also the
companies producing biofuels because they are the ones supplying the
product. The consumers are key and secondary stakeholders because they
demand the product but also have to deal with any side effects caused by
the fuels production. The farmers are secondary stakeholders but they are
going to be farming no matter what and are generally unaffected by the use
of their product.
Land use change caused by an increased production in biofuels is a
wicked problem. The definition of this problem is very vague. In general the
problem is that increasing the production of biofuels, especially ethanol,
leads to a reduction in food production. This causes increased food prices as
well as deforestation in order to have more agriculture land. The solution to
this problem is undefined. It is unknown whether ethanol production should

be stopped, new plants should be used, or if maybe just continuing the way
things are is the best solution. Even if we were to switch all corn grown in the
US to biofuels, only 12% of fuel demands would be met, so that is not the
solution (Hill, Nelson, & Tilman, 2006). There is no endpoint to this problem.
Society will always need energy and fuel and so as long as society is around
this will always be a problem. The effects to this issue are irreversible. When
increased ethanol production causes deforestation there is nothing that can
be done to fix it. That carbon has been released and there is no way to just
undo it and have the forest reappear overnight. This problem is very unique.
There are so many different aspects and stakeholders that no other issue is
like this. The basics of creating ethanol may be simple but the range of
issues that it creates is huge. This problem is also urgent. In one way, society
needs fuel and finding reliable sources of fuel is a huge issue. In another
way, using ethanol is rapidly causing problems. The carbon released from its
production and use is contributing to climate change. And the deforestation
caused by land use change is causing biodiversity loss.
I chose this issue because I like the idea of biofuel and it being a
reliable, renewable energy source but I also see that as is, biofuels are not
sustainable and have many problems. Identifying the issues with biofuels
may lead to solutions and society having a truly sustainable fuel source.
Without action and we could lose the ability for society to continue as it has
been. With ecosystem destruction and climate change as the likely outcomes
of an increase in biofuels, everyone must pay attention and realize this

system needs change. After looking at this problem I have a couple

questions. Can we come up with a good reliable way of measuring the effects
of land use change? There are lots of different numbers out there but there
does not seem to be a reliable method of measuring just how much
destruction has been made. What about different plants or different parts of
plants that could be used as a fuel source? Corn is very popular for ethanol in
the United States because it is an infrastructure that we already have set up
but is it possible that there are better plant options.

Works Cited
Filhoa, J. B., & Horridge, M. (2014). Ethanol expansion and indirect land use
change in Brazil. Land Use Policy, 595-604.
Hill, J., Nelson, E., & Tilman, D. (2006). Environmental, economic, and
energetic costs and benefits of biodiesel and ethanol biofuels. PNAS,
11206-11210.
Kendall, A., & Chang, B. (2009). Estimating life cycle greenhouse gas
emissions from cornethanol: a critical review of current U.S. practices.
Journal of Cleaner Production, 1175-1182.
Lora, E. E. (2011). Issues to consider, existing tools and constraints in
biofuels sustainability assessments. Energy, 2097-2110.