Dystopia
Feeding populations or powering machines? This is the question, unthinkable just a few years ago, that the direction taken by part of agricultural production now poses. Financial institution for the oilseeds sector (rapeseed, sunflower, soya), Sofiproteol is a leader in the production of agrofuels in France. Its turnover was 5.6 billion euros in 2010, including 2.3 billion for agrofuels alone. Entire regions around the world have already become veritable fields of vegetable oil. The amount of grain needed to fill a 4x4 tank is enough to feed a human being for a year. “Dying of hunger for the “export model” and foreign exchange earnings”, what Robert Linhart* wrote in 1980 draws the contours of a “modern and conquering” future, to use the words of Xavier Beulin, who directs the FNSEA and chairs Sofiproteol.