Worldwide Demand For Grain
Despite significant growth in food production over the past 50 years, nearly 1 billion people in the world still suffer from hunger and even more are malnourished. Farmers will need to produce around 1.5% more grain every year, representing an increase of 35% by 2030 and greater than 70% by 2050. Since 1980, demand for field crops has increased almost 85%, from 1.2 billion to almost 2.2 billion metric tons, with the increased demand for food and feed as key drivers. More recently, people are also looking to biofuels to meet our energy needs in ways that mitigate the growing problem of green house emissions.

Uses Of Cereals Production
Demand for grain has increased almost 85% since 1980 and will continue to increase at an average rate of 1.5% per year. Cereals produced for food consumption still leads the way with 47%, while biofuels production only makes up 5%. Agriculture is receiving increasing attention worldwide as government and non-government authorities recognize that there is a need to increase productivity in a more accelerated way in order to ensure food security and improved nutrition to a growing population. At the same time, responding to changes in climate, using the limited natural resources in a sustainable way and respecting biodiversity pose additional challenges to achieving increased farm productivity at the required speed.

Worldwide Biofuel Production
Global energy demands are expected to increase approximately 50% by 2030. As fossil fuels are increasingly limited, energy from biofuels produced from plants is now playing a more important role as an alternative. The U.S. and Brazil have invested heavily in this area, producing 70% of the world's biofuels. In Brazil, ethanol from sugar cane produces 40% of the world's bioethanol and has locally replaced 50% of the gasoline used in light vehicles. In 2003 the EU adopted a biofuels directive setting a target of 5.75% for renewable energy consumed in transport by 2010; latest forecasts suggest this has not been achieved. Subsequently biofuels targets have been set for 2020 calling for a minimum market share target of 10%.

U.S. Renewable Fuels Standard
As the U.S. ethanol industry expands, the amount of corn used for ethanol production is increasing. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 established the first-ever Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) in federal law, requiring increasing volumes of ethanol and biodiesel to be blended with the U.S. fuel supply between 2006 and 2012. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 amended and increased the RFS, requiring 10.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel use in 2009, stepping up to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Under the modified RFS, corn-based ethanol is essentially capped at 15 billion gallons by 2015, while the balance must be derived from advanced biofuels such as cellulosic and non-corn-based ethanol.