by Viv Forbes, winner of the 1986 Australian Adam Smith Award for “outstanding services to the free society”

Droughts and other natural disasters often reduce world food supplies, but food production eventually recovers from these setbacks.

However, there is a continuous, chronic, man-made disaster now reducing food supplies in many countries.

To meet futile Kyoto obligations, many countries are using corn, wheat, sugar, palm oil and soya beans to produce ethanol for cars.

Engines can run on petrol, diesel, gas, coal, wood or electricity — there is no need to burn food crops.

The “Crops for Cars” campaign is now removing 6.5% of grain and 8% of vegetable oils from world food supply to produce motor fuel. Canada alone produces two billion litres of ethanol as “biofuel commitments” to Kyoto, removing enough wheat and corn from the global food supply to feed more than 33 million people. The US diverts almost 40% of its corn to ethanol. There are similar programs in Brazil and Europe.

It’s no wonder that world food prices rose 20% in 2010.

Governments are planning to triple ethanol production by 2020. The effect of this on world food supplies will be worse than an eternal expanding worldwide drought.

For the last century, world food production has benefitted greatly from a natural cycle of global warming which has produced increasing carbon dioxide plant food in the atmosphere.

This warming has now halted and global cooling with its associated lower rainfall is now at least as likely as a resumption of benign global warming. Global cooling would immediately slash world food production.

“Crops for Cars” is very risky and costly for all mankind. Ethanol production will have no effect on climate, damages the environment, is a poor fuel, and sets the stage for world famine.

It’s time to end all ethanol subsidies and mandates.