The Biofuels International website recently featured a “fact versus fiction” analysis on biofuels and food prices. First generation (food-based ) biofuel feedstocks (such as corn for ethanol) have been seen to play a major influence in agricultural commodity prices. Recent reports from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (FPRI) portray biofuels as the reason for crop price hikes in 2007 and 2008. Both organizations recommended that governments (urgently) review their biofuel policies in the light of potential adverse effects on “food prices and increased world hunger”. However, the feature analysis points out, that other major factors have influenced agricultural commodity prices, and biofuels have exerted only “moderate impacts”. The price hikes are said to be a “combination of relatively inelastic demand and volatile supply”, and a number of “cyclical” and “structural” factors are involved. One of the structural factors mentioned was “the growing demand from emerging economies, the historically low levels of investment in agriculture and agricultural research which have slowed down productivity”. Cyclical factors include: (1) “adverse weather conditions resulting in bad harvests in key production areas of the world”, (2) “limited international commodity trade due to the imposition of export restrictions in various countries” and (3) “speculative investment in agricultural commodity markets”. The full feature article can be accessed at the Biofuels International website (URL above)..