Innovation Spring 2025

Jatropha is grown in Africa to produce biofuel. P hoto : W iwik sisto /S hutterstock

Biofuel crops may upend food crops

Biofuels have been heralded as a renewable option to reduce reliance on depleting fossil fuel reserves. However, there are collateral impacts that a budding fuel crop market can have on economies and ecosystems. Dr. Zafar Adeel, P. Eng., director pro tem of SFU’s School of Sustainable Energy Engineering, pointed to farmers in sub-Saharan Africa completely turning away from food crop production in favour of growing Jatropha, a highly energy-dense crop that can be used to produce biodiesel. This crop production shift has left a mark on local food markets, where scarcity is already an existential issue. Jatropha is also much more resource-intensive than conventional food crops as it depletes water and soil resources much more quickly for the same area cultivated. When depleted soils and water resources meet with food scarcity from food crops being replaced by fuel crops, you have a new lever for the

global food market, Adeel noted. And this problem is not limited to the world’s poorest regions. “There are about 1.1 billion people who have some kind of nutritional deficits. There’s also over one billion people who don’t have access to modern forms of energy,” Adeel explained. “Each billion gallons of [corn-based] bioethanol you will produce will lead to a three percent increase in [wholesale corn] price. It sounds trivial, but if you recall in 2009 there were many riots in parts of the world due to spikes in global wheat prices.” “The irony is that the biodiesel isn’t sold in sub Saharan Africa. It’s mostly exported to Europe. So, you’re making your own countries’ and regions’ food insecure.” Adeel added, “Biofuel production should not be driving nutritional deficits.”

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Spring 2025

Innovation