The increasing use of food commodities for biofuel production may intensify the competition for arable land. To test this hypothesis we analyze the effects of crude oil prices on prices, areas and quantities of selected food commodities empirically. On the world level the crude oil price Granger causes an increasing area use for the production of maize, soybean oil, sugar and wheat. For the U.S., we find that the maize price is the key variable influencing the total area used for cereal production. In Indonesia and Malaysia the palm oil price has effects on the cultivated area for rice.