aDepartment of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, Punjab
bSchool of Business, University of Northern British Colombia, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
*Author for correspondence, Email: asbhullar1@rediffmail.com
§This paper is largely a part of the studies undertaken by the authors at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada. Authors are thankful to the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada for providing research facilities to conduct this study. However, the views and opinions expressed in this paper are not necessarily of any institution or organization.
This review on biofuel policy, production status and studies on economic rationale has brought out that (a) Canada has huge fossil energy and is relatively free from the future energy insecurity; (b) the diversion of feed grains to biofuel production benefited the crop growers due to increased grain prices but adversely affected the livestock farmers, and consumers; (c) the biofuel production receives huge financial and market support from the government; (d) the environmental benefits of biofuels are meagre and too costly; and (e) the production of biofuels is a source of various multi-level latent conflicts. This experience suggests a re-direction of the policy towards increased research and development support for second generation biofuels.
Biofuels, Biofuel policy, Trade–offs in biofuels, Transport biofuel, Canadian biofuel policy
