That was according to speakers at last month's Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum biofuels seminar in London.
Dominic Dyer, Crop Protection Association chief executive, called for the creation of a global demand, supply and land use monitor to be created. "You need one body responsible for mapping the world's resources and reporting on that."
"The land use planning we would need to deliver sustainable biofuels doesn't seem to be there, even in the UK," said Dr Douglas Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace.
Land in areas that would be least affected by climate change needed to be prioritised, said Richard Stark, head of development for British Sugar. The firm supplies sugar beet for two major bioethanol plants in Wissington, Norfolk, and Hull.
Ruth Digby, National Farmers' Union crop adviser, said wheat and sugar beet core biofuel crops could also be used for animal feed. "The UK is heavily dependent on animal feed imports. Having sustainable animal feed within the UK is one side-effect of increasing biofuel production."
Equally, she added, land devoted to biofuel crops could be used, and safeguarded, for arable production: "Without developed biofuel policies, EU arable land area is expected to fall by 2020."
Dyer said: "You can't talk about biofuels without addressing the broader food security question."
More available land for global food production was scarce, so countries had to use land more efficiently and make more biofuels from food byproducts, he said. Brazil provided a model of efficient biofuel production, Dyer added.
The UK's Renewable Fuels Agency said it was working on consolidating data, particularly on land use, and would look to publish it in January next year.
Paul Thompson, head of policy at the Renewable Energy Association, called for better legislation: "We have got to get the sustainability of biofuels right. In practice, that does mean sustainable biofuel regulations." Biofuel production and use targets for 2020 should be clearly set, said Thompson.
Stark pressed for clear incentives for biofuel production: "There's no fuel duty rebate for bioethanol. It's not being directly subsidised in the UK."