Forget corn—meat byproducts are the fuel of the future. That’s what Tyson and oil company Conoco are banking on, in a new partnership to turn the factory-farming giant’s leftover animal fat into biodiesel. As the Financial Times reports, Tyson has been vocal in its criticism of the corn-ethanol industry, whose increasing production could drive up the price of animal feed, inflating food prices for consumers (oh, and also cutting into Tyson’s bottom line).
The biodiesel deal will certainly fatten the food company’s profits, according to CNBC: Not only will Tyson make money on increased sales of tallow (currently used in some cooking oils and cosmetics), it will also receive a tax break for creating an alternative fuel.
Since tallow isn’t truly a waste product, Tyson’s move isn’t as efficient or environmentally friendly as some other meat-based fuel ideas out there. And given that a good number of truly hard-core biodiesel fans don’t eat meat at all, let alone the factory-farmed variety, they probably won’t be the ones lining up at the pump for the new stuff. It’s good to see biodiesel getting some play—it’s better in many ways than corn-based ethanol—but I’m not sure Tyson’s will be the best option.
I’d be interested to know what the substance of Tyson’s beef with the ethanol industry is. I am not enough of a scientist to parse the relative merits of biodiesel and ethanol, but it is hard for me to see how even a corporate citizen like Tyson can criticize a petroleum alternative simply because it might increase its costs.
Corn-based ethanol costs more to produce than it can be sold for, and takes almost as much other energy to produce as it produces. It is here mainly as a government talking point to show that they are doing something, and is totally subsidized by tax dollars. Its production has driven global corn prices higher to the point that many poor Mexicans cannot even afford to buy or make tortillas, their food staple for hundreds of years.
This gives a pretty good (if quick) synopsis of Tyson’s position:
http://www.foodprocessing.com/industrynews/2007/032.html
And yeah, corn ethanol is definitely not as efficient as other forms of the fuel (like cellulosic ethanol, which uses only the waste products of plants like corn or sugar cane, instead of the edible portions). The push for corn ethanol is pretty much a way for the Bush administration to look like it’s doing something about our “oil addiction,” while conveniently also placating the massive corn-industry lobby.