Concerns about renewable diesel’s rapid growth on crop availability

In Illinois, Bloomberg is trying to spark concerns about another potential food vs. fuel debate, linking the growing demand for biofuels with the recent high prices seen in corn and soybean especially but also palm oil and sugar. JPMorgan estimates that if all renewable diesel projects come online as planned by 2024, production would increase four-fold to 4.9 billion gallons from 827 million gallons currently at a total of 35 facilities. AgResource estimates another 5 million acres of US soybean is required to supply growing demand.