The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded FSE and collaborators $3.8 million over three years for the study of "Biofuels and Food Security in the Developing World". The project is a collaboration between FSE, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the University of Nebraska, and the Center on Chinese Agricultural Policy.

The project seeks to systematically address the effects of biofuels expansion on the global poor. The project will describe the pathways of impact between expanding biofuels production and its effects on global commodity markets, poverty, and food security, and will assess the feasibility of investing in biofuels systems in poor countries, shedding light on when and where such investments might help or hinder efforts at poverty alleviation. The project will entail both a global modeling effort, and associated detailed case studies in India, Mozambique, and Senegal.