University of Virginia researcher says biofuel creating land competition for food

In Virginia, a researcher at the University of Virginia has said that as strategies for energy security, investment opportunities and energy policies prompt ever-growing production and consumption of biofuels like bioethanol and biodiesel, land and water that could otherwise be used for food production increasingly are used to produce crops for fuel.

About 4 percent of the world’s agricultural land and 3 to 4 percent of its fresh water are now used for growing biofuels, according to a new study published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports. About one-third of the malnourished people in the world, the findings suggest, could be fed by using these resources for food production.