The Spectacle Blog
Associated Press reports we should not hold farmers or the ethanol industry responsible for rising food prices. There are other contributing factors, such as inflation and fuel costs, but we certainly can also include those heavily subsidized ag-fuelers in the blame game, even though AP downplays it:
Ethanol producers acknowledge they’ve increased demand for corn but say it’s not enough to affect food prices.
Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, said the ethanol industry only uses about 25 percent of the nation’s corn supply.
Only 25 percent? So we’re setting aside one-quarter of the core good we produce, which goes into so much of the food the world consumes (meat, dairy, eggs, Corn Chex), to instead burn it for no good reason. Blame also the lawmakers who think in their infinite wisdom that they are good at creating “markets.”
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http://spectator.org/blog/2011/04/06/only-a-quarter-of-our-corn-is
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Michael L. Hauschild| 4.6.11 @ 10:27AM
There is an incredible amount of diesel used to plant, cultivate, and harvest. There is an immense amount of petroleum fueled production to create the fertilizer and chemicals to maintain high yields. There is substantial irrigation (also petroleum powered) and water used in the processing of the corn, not to mention the transportation costs of moving the ethanol around for the mixing with the various grades of gasoline.
The ethanol industry from top to bottom is a huge sucking chest wound on the breath of the economy. The poor struggling farmer is a myth; the reality is that your tax dollars are destined for the mailbox of an agri-corporation (or rock star from New Jersey). The product is corrosive, inefficient, and creates more pollution than the material it replaces.
Once you make more of this stuff than you can drink you are wasting everyone’s money.
nohype| 4.6.11 @ 5:15PM
Food typically has a low price elasticity of demand, so small changes in quantity supplied lead to big changes in price.
If the ethanol subsidies did not raise crop prices (and if you raise corn prices, the prices of others will follow as farmers adjust their planting decisions), farmers would not oppose their elimination.
Pelligrino| 4.7.11 @ 12:39AM
Corn being used for ethanol rather than animal feed, human feed, or export.
Just one more glaring indicator that the leadership of one's own nation (and the leadership of many "Heartland" states: Illinois, Iowa, Indiana) are working for the aggressive demise of our nation.
Far more money could be made for the farmers/transporters/sellers/nation right now if that 25% were exported.
Look at the active revolt by motorists in Europe over ethanol in fuel. It is not just drivers here who think it daffy.