Feedstock supplies 'hotly contested between agriculture and biofuel'

Feedstock supplies are becoming hotly contested between agricultural grain markets and biofuel refineries as biofuel composition increasingly relies on corn.

This increased competition has sparked concern over the allocation of farmland for the use of growing corn, with many commentators speculating that the farming industry will struggle to keep up with increased food requirements and the use of corn elsewhere.

Failure to act on this issue could lead to implications for food security, energy security, and environmental sustainability, it has been highlighted by the University of Illinois.

An increase in demand generally leads to an increase in price, which could have far-reaching consequences for both industries. Yanfeng Ouyang, a professor of civil and environmental engineering from the university said: “We looked at competition among farmers and between the refinery and the food market and put them into one model to optimize the whole system.

“A lot of researchers now working on biofuel supply chain optimization have not been able to develop a holistic model that can address such complex interactions among multiple stakeholders in a comprehensive framework.”