Crop residues
Nearly every food crop has some parts that are too fibrous for people to eat. These are referred to as crop residues or biomass waste.
Examples:
- banana leaves
- peanut shells
- coconut shells
- empty corn cobs with no kernels
- rice husks
- sunflower seed husks
- straw
Uses:
- All biomass waste can be burned for energy.
- Some kinds of biomass waste can be converted into packaging.
- Some kinds of biomass waste can be fed to ruminants (cows).
- Some kinds of biomass waste can be used for cultivating mushrooms.
- If there's no other use, biomass waste can be composted back into the soil.
3 and 4 are both ways to convert fiber into human-edible protein & calories. Help figure out which of these processes is more efficient overall. This page doesn't have enough information yet - join the discussion.
Supply
Soybean meal is not counted here, because it can be turned into human food (soy flour).
Source:
Breewood, H. & Garnett, T. (2020). What is feed-food competition? (Foodsource: building blocks). Food Climate Research Network, University of Oxford.
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References primary source:
Mottet, A., de Haan, C., Falcucci, A., Tempio, G., Opio, C., & Gerber, P. (2017). Livestock: On our plates or eating at our table? A new analysis of the feed/food debate. Global Food Security.
How much does the world produce:
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If all of it was burned for energy, it would be equivalent to burning:
(calculation loading)
If it was burned in a power plant, the electricity generated would be:
(calculation loading)
Biomass energy is nowhere near enough to power the world.