Thanks to Linda for Sunday’s post on the recent NYTimes article about the global context of rising food prices. While raising a number of important issues often overlooked in the domestic “locavore etc.” movement, the article begins to explain the effect of biofuels on global food prices. In December, Grassroots International, Community Food Security Coalition, World Hunger Year and several other groups released the report “Fueling Disaster: A Community Food Security Perspective on Agrofuels,” which deals with the effects of proliferating reliance on biofuels on food sovereignty.

Despite popular understanding (using popular loosely to refer to those who’ve heard of switchgrass) that use of cellulosic ethanol would have fewer negative consequences than corn-based ethanol, in Fueling Disaster Eric Holt-Gimenez of Food First says “The issue of which crops are converted to fuel is irrelevant. Wild plants cultivated as fuel crops won’t have a smaller ‘environmental footprint.’” The report also deals with the likelihood that biofuel production will further processes of concentration and corporatization of agriculture, which will have negative consequences not only for food sovereignty, but also workers’ rights, community economic development and natural resource management.

Also in December, a coalition of groups (some of which were associated with the report) initiated a call for a moratorium on U.S. incentives for biofuels, citing increased reliance on foreign biofuel sources, resource depletion, and increased concentration, among other problems.