New maps by researchers at the University of Wisconsin show how our demand for agricultural land has grown dramatically over the last three hundred years; from covering 7% of the global land area in 1700 to around 40% today.

A study by Iowa State University's Center for Agriculture and Rural Development has been published. Emerging Biofuels: Outlook of Effects on US Grain, Oilseed, and Livestock Markets argues that greater US ethanol production will mean more competition for land and grain, and will subsequently cause long-run crop price increases. It says that the expanding US ethanol market has already driven US retail food prices up by $14 billion over the last year.

For a study examining the issue of agriculture for food versus agriculture for energy see Wolf J, Bindraban PS , Luijten JC and Vleeshouwers LM (2003) Exploratory study on the land area required for global food supply and the potential global production of bioenergy, Agricultural Systems, Volume 76, Issue 3, June 2003.

There is an interesting 5 page feature on the expansion of ethanol in the US in the USDA’s April 2006 issue of Amber Waves. According to the USDA, ethanol use currently accounts for 12% of maize use in the US New ethanol plants are being built across the corn belt which will increase ethanol production by around 50%