A quote from the conclusion of a paper (Comerford J W (2008) 'The implications of biofuel production on intensive livestock production in the United States'. Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science pp 285) states :
"For the future, use of corn to meet policy requirements for fossil fuel replacement implies 6.6 million additional bushels of corn will no longer be available. Short term implications are higher prices for feed grains as they are diverted to subsidized biofuel production.
"Higher costs for most livestock and dairy production, because of lower production and increased ownership costs, will make red meats, poultry, and milk less competitive to imports and substitutes. Longer term implications will be from determination of the most economical feedstock for biofuel production. This may include celulosic fermentation coming on
line, and 300 million cares of grasslands could be converted to biomass production. Concentrated dairy and beef feeding operations, including that for the breeding herd, will be similar to current production systems for pork and poultry.
"The implications to this result on consumer acceptability will be important in the marketplace. The substitution rate of corn with co-products for the dairy and beef industries will be mandate a higher proportion of forage-based diets. Lower milk and meat production could result with reduced energy in the total diet. Complete forage diets may emerge. Supply and demand forces will need to dictate if this result is profitable in the US market since grass-fed meat and milk in the “natural” or organic form resides only in niche markets."
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