Agriculture secre tary Edward T. Schafer is preparing to walk into a buzzsaw of criticism over American biofuels policy when he meets with world leaders to discuss the global food crisis next week. Mr Schafer took the offensive at a press conference on Thursday that discussed the food summit, planned for Rome. He said an analysis by the agriculture depart ment had determined that biofuel production was responsible for only 2 to 3 per cent of the increase in global food prices, while biofuels had reduced consumption of crude oil by a million barrels a day.

Government legislation that will require all gasoline sold in Canada to contain 5 percent ethanol by 2010 passed the House of Commons on Wednesday. The bill, which also calls for diesel to contain 2 percent renewable fuels by 2012, won the support of the main opposition Liberal Party but was opposed by two smaller parties that had voiced concern about food-crop production being diverted to fuel. However, the governing Conservatives and the Liberals have both backed the idea, arguing that only a small portion of food crops such as corn will be used to make the biofuel.

Global production of biofuels will rise rapidly over the next decade, helped by high government blending targets and subsidies, the OECD and the UN's FAO food agency said in a report published on Thursday. These rises will boost already soaring world agricultural commodities prices and reduce their availability for food and feed, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Food and Agriculture Organisation said in co-drafted report.

Ahead of a global summit on the food crisis, the United Nations called on world leaders on Wednesday to agree to urgent measures to ease demand for grains and ease high food prices. A report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations suggested that countries might need to reconsider policies that encourage the production of ethanol and other biofuels. The report also suggested that the food summit in Rome, which will run from June 3 to 5, will give world leaders a chance to renew a war on hunger.,

Amnesty International criticized poor working conditions and forced labour in Brazil's fast-growing sugar cane sector on Wednesday, as the government tries to promote the cane-based ethanol industry as a way to reduce poverty. The human rights group said Brazil's government has taken steps to improve working conditions in rural areas, but it has confirmed cases of forced labour throughout the country.

A fund-driven surge in sugar prices at the start of 2008 has been wiped out as a huge glut of the sweetener reasserted its grip on the market, but growing demand for cane-based ethanol could fuel future price gains. Raw sugar futures powered out of the starting blocks of 2008 on heavy buying by index funds and soared 39 percent to peak at 15.07 cents a lb on March 3. Prices then slid under pressure from the surplus, and dipped below 10 cents on Friday. Raw sugar stood at 10.82 cents on the last trading day of 2007.

Not long ago, the fledgling ethanol industry was the darling of investors, farmers, the federal government and a lot of Americans who liked the idea of turning corn into fuel. Suddenly, it doesn't have nearly as many friends. RISING PRICES: Is a bubble brewing in super-hot commodities markets?

About 45 minutes north of downtown Los Angeles, a machine the size of a small truck flattens tons of food scraps, paper towels and other household trash into the side of a growing 300-foot pile. To Waste Management which operates the landfill, this is more than just a mountain of garbage. Pipes tunnelled deep into the mound extract gas from the rotting waste and send it to a plant that turns it into electricity.