A new report says the Renewable Fuel Standard, designed in part to reduce air pollution through the use of biofuels, has created a host of negative environmental impacts, including plowing up land to grow more corn and soybeans. University of Wisconsin researcher Tyler Lark says the standard, or R-F-S, sparked a surge in corn and soybean prices, which incentivized reduced-yield monoculture production. The move also led to widespread loss of critical habitat for wildlife.
The R-F-S raised corn prices 31 percent and soybean prices 19 percent, which led to the conversion of one-point-six million acres of grasslands, wetlands, and forests between 2009 and 2016. In addition to cutting air pollution, proponents of the R-F-S hoped that increased domestic corn and soybean production for ethanol would help replace at least a part of the nation’s consumption of fossil fuels from unstable regions./David DeGennaro with the National Wildlife Federation says the new research eliminates any remaining doubt that U-S biofuels policy is making the environment worse, not better. He says the R-F-S has resulted in a total loss of nearly three million acres – roughly the size of Delaware – that would otherwise be wildlife habitat or non-farm lands to corn and soybean production.
Public officials are preparing to rewrite national biofuel policy because of a mandated “re-set” of the law. DeGennaro says he hopes the new research will help move the nation closer to solutions to promote clean fuels in a way that works for farmers, communities and wildlife.
