UK Tory leader predicts British food shortage; says food security a vital national interest

In the UK, Tory party leader David Cameron said that Britain will feel a global “food crunch”, and that national food security was a vital national interest. He noted that the UK was 60% self-sufficient in food in 2008, compared to 72% in 1996, and that the average meat consumption in China has increased from 20 kilograms per person per year in 1985 to more than 50 kilograms today, and that Britain cannot count on other countries to make up for a domestic food shortage.

Last month, D1 Oils and several other Teeside biofuels companies protested a UK parliamentary committee report calling for a ban on biofuels over food cost and environmental concerns. D1 spokesmen said that the ban would serve to undermine companies in the ULK that are investing in sustainable, alternative crops such as jatropha that would cure the problems identified in the parliamentary report. Renewable energy accounts for 2 percent of total energy use in the UK, and the EU has proposed mandating a 15 percent level by 2020 with 10 percent to come from biofuels.

The UK Government recently revised its costs and carbon savings from the proposed implementation of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). The cost has risen 87% to $760 per ton of carbon emission saved based on an estimated carbon savings of 700,000-800,000 tonnes. The RTFO imposes a 2.5 percent biofuel mandate in 2008, increasing to 5 percent in 2010.

Late last year, the government established a Renewable Fuels Agency to manage compliance with the RFTO, which takes effect in April 2008. The Obligation mandates that, by 2010, five per cent of all fuel sold in the UK must be from renewable sources.

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