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| A Sea of Cane in Brazil |
| The market for biofuel is getting hot |
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Antonio Carlos Rix (carlosrix)  |
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Published 2007-04-02 10:17 (KST) |
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 | |  This machine was sold to Norway during Feicana Show -- in the sign you can read "sold." | | | ©2007 Antonio Carlos Rix | | Twenty-nine Norwegian investors in Oslo created the first biofuel enterprise in the country this week by means of an association with the Brazilian group Usina Albertina in Sertaozinho, Sao Paulo, thereby giving birth to Norway's first ethanol company.
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FROM THE SECTION |
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| This is not the first European move to enter as exponentially growing ethanol market. Louis Dreyfus Global, from France, went even further and bought four alcohol plants in the northern region of Brazil. U.S. investors are also in the market to buy. This way, when Europe or the U.S. buys ethanol from Brazil they will profit on both ends of the deal.
About three weeks ago, President George W. Bush visited Brazil. His main interest was the Brazilian biofuel program, especially ethanol. The biofuel industry in Brazil is growing fast, with investments coming from all over the world. It is also selling a lot. This is great for Brazil and for many other strongly agricultural economies of the world -- in general, developing countries.
Now some care will be necessary. Let me talk about Brazil. I believe this will be about the same for other world agro producers.
During Bush's visit, the annual sugar cane industry show -- Feicana -- took place in Aracatuba, Sao Paulo, the state visited by Bush. He did not visit the show, but the occasion was very appropriate.
 | | | Bio Diesel plants for sale during the show -- Brazilian tecnology in the production of both ethanol and bio diesel is also generating exports. | | | ©2007 Antonio Carlos Rix | | Biodiesel is Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's hope for the arid northern regions of Brazil. The plants that already grow there are good for generating this kind of biofuel, which could help the many very poor families of the area if the government manages to keep it under tight control and even if allowing big investment forces the production to be in the form of cooperative work led by small property owners.
When Bush came to visit and talked about biofuel, people joked that he came to say it was his. (People in general have a lot of good sense. Time will tell.) If Americans increase their use of ethanol in gasoline by 5 percent, the improvement in the environment will be enormous but so will the need for more ethanol. This is the hope of the industry and of the market.
The idea of planting what generates your fuel is great -- renewable fuel, less pollutants, etc. For the big farmers and corporations it is a gold mine. The environmental appeal is hard to beat. How can any one talk bad about it? But there are concerns.
Here's a picture: if your square meter of sugar cane is paying $10 why will you choose to plant beans that pay only $5 or $6? You won't, right? When traveling to the Feicana in Aracatuba I saw for myself hundreds of kilometers of sugar cane fields by the highway. (Aracatuba is almost 600 kilometers from Campinas.) In the pictures below, you'll see what I saw by the highway; imagine what I could not see.
 | | | From the highway, the Aracatuba sugar cane plantation stretches as far as the eye can see. | | | ©2007 Antonio Carlos Rix | |  | | | From the highway on my way back from Aracatuba -- Sugar cane as far as the eye can see. | | | ©2007 Antonio Carlos Rix | | Another question is how this sugar cane is going to be produced. Though the fuel itself reduces carbon dioxide emissions, the process by which it is obtained is a matter of great concern to people who live near the sugar cane fields. You see, after the sugar cane is ready to be harvested the fields are set on fire so all the straw is burned and the small thorns it has are eliminated. Otherwise, it is almost impossible for the workers to cut it down.
So who is going to produce the cane, as well as how and where, are very important things for Brazilians, and the whole world.
Do we all need biofuel? Yes!
Is it a great option in terms of the environment? Yes!
Can developing countries benefit a lot from this new renewable energy source? Yes and no.
Why yes and no?
Because it will depend on the political choices each country makes.
If, for instance, Brazil allows all the plants to be bought by foreign investors, if a clear policy is not established for plantations and food production, if the production process is not regulated by the government what is now a blessing to the Brazilian economy and people will become a curse.
It's happened in the past: first the near extinction of the pau brasil (the national tree of Brazil) when the country was newly "discovered," then sugar cane for sugar, then coffee and more recently soybean plantations. Now comes the far bigger biofuel rush. If we don't take care, Brazil will be covered with sugar cane fields from north to south, few will get richer and many will barely have enough to eat.
 | | | Ethanol stored near fields of sugar cane. | | | ©2007 Antonio Carlos Rix | |  | | | An ethanol production plant by the highway. There are about 330 in the whole country but the number is growing. | | | ©2007 Antonio Carlos Rix | |  | | | Feicana -- the annual sugar cane industry show. | | | ©2007 Antonio Carlos Rix | |  | | | Feicana -- annual sugar cane industry show. | | | ©2007 Antonio Carlos Rix | |
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©2007 OhmyNews
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