THE POSSIBLE CONFLICTS IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS BETWEEN FOOD, FEED AND FUEL

The debate on biofuels in last years has mainly focused on environmental and energy issues at least until they have begun to emerge concerns about the effects of such practices on the agricultural markets and on the prices of the main products. In other words, the use of biofuels has been intended, in the current opinion, as a solution with a particular value in the energy and environmental perspective rather than an issue of strictly agricultural relevance. It follows that the same policies for the promotion of this sector were intended mainly as energy and environmental policies. This is because on the one hand biofuels are potentially a very interesting alternative to fossil fuels, and for the other they contribute not only to solve a problem of energy supply -especially for countries depending on imports- but also a problem of environmental nature, due to the excessive emission of greenhouse gases, with the consequent effects of global warming and climate change. The paper analyzes the complex geography of production and consumption of biofuels and comes to the conclusion that what appears altogether overlooked is the combined effect of all the possible causes of the food crisis and rising prices. In particular, in the context of a reduction in cereal stocks for years at a global level, is not to be excluded that the impact of biofuels, seemingly minor from the quantitative point of view, together with the expectations of their growth, has been precisely at the origin of a large-scale speculative wave.