The Tropical Oil Crop Revolution Food, Feed, Fuel, and Forests

Global production of soybeans and palm oil has increased enormously in the tropics over the last two decades. The Tropical Oil Crop Revolution provides a broad synthesis of the major supply and demand drivers in their production; their economic, social, and environmental impacts; and the future outlook to 2050.

The planting of these crops is controversial because they are often sown on formerly forested or savanna lands, rely on large farmers and agribusiness rather than smallholders for their development, and largely supply export markets. This book provides a comparative perspective on their expansion with exports increasingly concentrated in Southeast Asia and South America. Because these crops are used for food, cooking, animal feed, and biofuels, they have entered the agriculture, food, and energy chains of many countries, linking consumers across the world to distant producers in a handful of exporting countries.

This book is a profound examination of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the oil crop revolution in the tropics. While both economic benefits and social and environmental costs have been huge, the outlook is for reduced trade-offs and more sustainable outcomes as the oil crop revolution slows and the global, national and local communities converge on ways to better manage land use changes and land rights.

Derek Byerlee is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, and Editor-in-Chief of the Global Food Security journal. He previously held senior positions in the World Bank and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and has served on many international advisory bodies. His recent work has focused on inclusive agribusiness, large-scale farming, land use change and deforestation, and land governance.

Walter P. Falcon is Farnsworth Professor of International Agricultural Policy (Emeritus) and Senior Fellow at Stanford University. He is a specialist on food policy, especially in Asia, and has also played important leadership roles in international agricultural research organizations. He holds a PhD from Harvard in economics and is the winner of numerous scholarly and public service awards.

Rosamond L. Naylor is the William Wrigley Professor of Earth Systems Science and the Director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University. She completed her graduate degrees at the London School of Economics and Stanford's Food Research Institute, and Naylor's research focuses on the economic and policy dimensions of global food systems. She and her students execute field research projects focused on food security and environmental issues related to agriculture and aquaculture in several countries. She is an advisor to Stockholm's Beijer Institute, the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, The Nature Conservancy, and the Aspen Global Change Institute.