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Agri-business giants launch new coalition
The "Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy" wants to convince lawmakers and the public that new innovation can help farmers around the world produce enough to satisfy growing appetites for food and biofuels.
Monsanto, DuPont, Archer Daniels Midland Co., John Deere and the Renewable Fuels Association are kicking off the campaign today with advertisements in Capitol Hill newspapers and a press event in D.C.
"We want to promote the belief that through innovation we can meet the growing demand for food and fuel," said Monsanto spokesman Mimi Ricketts.
Leading the alliance is Mark Kornblau, a communications professional who worked as a spokesman for the 2004 Democratic presidential campaign, a strategist for Sen. Debbie Stabenow's (D-Mich.) 2000 bid to overturn incumbent Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) and on marketing and business development for the Zagat guides.
Ricketts maintains the campaign does not come in response to some of the negative backlash that biofuels have received this year. The Grocery Manufacturers Association and other food and environmental groups launched their own "Food Before Fuel" campaign last month to urge Congress to revisit biofuels policy <http://www.eenews.net/EEDaily/2008/06/11/archive/2>
The agribusiness groups want to remind Congress of the need for more research and technological investment in agriculture, Ricketts said.
Interest groups on all sides of the food and fuels debate have sparred over the reasons and potential solutions for the rise in food and commodity prices. Food suppliers and environmental groups have called for scaling back the renewable fuels mandate, while Agriculture Department officials have promoted the expansion of biotechnology in developing nations as an answer to the global food crisis.
Farmers in the United States have seen their corn yields double every generation, due to advanced pest-resistant seeds and new precision farming techniques, like equipment that can place fertilizer in the soil exactly where a plant's roots will need it. Farmers in many other parts of the world have not benefitted from such advancements and have much lower yields.
*New report on ethanol and food prices * Ethanol and high gas prices have bared the brunt of the blame from some groups. A new report yesterday from Purdue University said that the falling dollar and increased global consumption are also to blame.
The team of Purdue economists compiled their own research and 25 recent studies for the study, commissioned by the Illinois-based nonprofit Farm Foundation.
They found that soaring oil prices are responsible for $3 of the run-up in corn prices, and ethanol is responsible for an additional $1. Corn prices have tripled in the past two years, peaking at more than $8 a bushel. The study did not try to quantify the link between fuels and actual food prices.
The Purdue economists also found that growth in agricultural productivity has slowed in recent years, even though the demand for farm commodities has increased. Investments in agricultural research lagged in response to surpluses in the 1980s and 1990s, according to the report.
"Over the past four to eight years, depending on the commodity, growing demand and sluggish productivity growth led to the change from a surplus to a shortage era and set the stage for commodity price increases," the study states. "Increased investment in agricultural research is important, but it will not provide a short-term solution."
Allison Winter, E&E Daily reporter
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