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Raw Deal for Ethanol in Fuel v. Food Debate?
Ohio Corn Growers Association officials stopped by our newspaper last week as part of a nationwide effort to respond to national media coverage that they claim lays an undue share of the blame for higher food costs on ethanol.
Higher fuel and transportation prices have done far more to inflate the cost of food than the rising production of ethanol, argues Dwayne Siekman, executive director of the Ohio Corn Growers. He cited a statistic that only 19 cents of every dollar spent when checking out at the grocery store goes back to the farm.
And he said farmers for years received prices for their corn that was far below the cost of production, staying in business thanks to government subsidies. He brought up a report from Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development that a 30 percent increase in corn prices would increase consumer food prices by only a little more than 1 percent. And the group’s communications director, Natalie Lehner, said there’s still a surplus of corn, blaming high prices in part on speculation on the commodities market.
He also noted that last month a Merrill Lynch commodity strategist told the Wall Street Journal that oil and gasoline prices would be about 15 percent higher if biofuel producers weren’t increasing output.
Do you think the savings you’re getting at the gas pump from the rising production of biofuels outweighs the added costs you’re seeing at the grocery store?
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