Super Eco

Photo credit: Pappy's Corn Field by soundfromwayout at Flickr.com

When it comes to filling up our cars, biofuels have been touted as the savior for our energy problems. They don't require great holes in the ground, are said to mitigate the price of oil, and can help reduce our carbon emissions. Plus the raw materials for biofuels—plants, food waste, biowastes—are renewable.

On the biofuels-aren't-so-good side, the increased monoculture production of plants like corn create more soil erosion, may cause more deforestation as countries looking to cash in on the potential revenues convert more land to corn production, and put pressure on water reserves (both in irrigation and conversion to fuel).

Those who are against the use of corn as a biofuel source have received some pretty heavyweight backing. Douglas A. Landis of Michigan State University and his colleagues recently published a report in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showing that increased corn production for biofuels has a negative impact on neighboring soybean crops.

The researchers studied fields in four states (Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin) and discovered that where corn production increased by up to 20%, soybean farmers noticed a marked increase in aphid problems—resulting in lower yields and a $60million increase in pesticide use.

According to the report, the aphid population growth occurred because of a decrease in predator insects like beetles which normally aid in the control of the aphids.

The report concludes that the value of biological control of pests may be underestimated and that to maintain biodiversity researchers might consider exploring a variety of plant sources for biofuels instead of relying single plants like corn.