Biofuel sends food prices ‘up 75%’

A confidential World Bank report claims that switching agricultural land from producing food to biofuels has caused food prices to leap 75 per cent. The leaked figure will embarrass the White House, which had said the impact of biofuels had lead to a price rise of less than three per cent, and there are suggestions the report has been suppressed. Members of the G8 are meeting in Japan next week to discuss the global food crisis and to decide on policy for biofuels.