Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia, Uruguay and Ghana are poised to become the world leaders in biodiesel production, according to a new study.
That’s surprising, since the United States is the world’s leading producer and exporter of soybeans, a major source for biofuel — a promising short-term alternative to fossil fuels. The U.S. harvested 3.1 billion bushels of soybeans last year.
But when Matt Johnson and Tracey Holloway of the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment studied which countries are best positioned to enter the burgeoning market for biodiesel, they came up with a list of developing countries with a strong agricultural base, stable governments and low debt.