USDA Says Ethanol Accounts for Only 3% of Increased Cost of Food
On Monday, USDA officials met with reporters to discuss just how closely biofuels (specifically corn-based ethanol) are linked to the increasing price of food. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, who has vehemently defended biofuels before, had this to say:
One theory that has been widely discussed in recent weeks is that the nation’s growing demand for biofuels and the crops needed to produce them is the real culprit behind higher food prices, both at home and abroad. Yet the evidence that we have seen. . .does not support this.
It’s true that higher demand for corn for ethanol and soybeans for biodiesel has led to higher prices for those crops over the past couple of years. But we do not have a one on one relationship between higher prices for those commodities and what consumers are paying for foods at the retail level. There are many factors at work. . .
So just how much is ethanol contributing to global food prices? According to Schafer:
On the international level, the President’s Council of Economic Advisors estimates that only 3 percent of the more than 40 percent increase we have seen in world food prices this year is due to the increased demand on corn for ethanol.
Their reasoning includes things I’ve written about before including oil prices, economic and dietary expansion in India and China, droughts affecting wheat crops, etc.
For more, read the USDA’s biofuel briefing in its entirety or watch the video:
@Norm: Adding 10% ethanol to regular gasoline only decreases gas mileage by 3%.
Bullshit that oil is the only cause of food prices going up. Some of it is the dollar falling, AND OIL. Whats causing oil to go up? Part of it is the dollar losing value.
Apart from trusting the same folks that brought us the Iraq war and massive national deficits, there aren’t many in the know that buy the 3% number. Today, we use about 15% of US corn production for ethanol but the number is increasing even as we bring more land into production. Some of that land was used to grow wheat, creating wheat shortages and driving the up the price of wheat and by extension all products that use wheat.
At time the US is redirecting corn production away food products, the demand for food is increasing dramatically. The net result is higher food prices and worldwide, more starving people, but of course that isn’t a concern to the pseudo-enviromentalists.
[...] Sounds like a good idea if you have the room to do it. Unless you could grow something useful on a patio or whatever I wouldn’t be able to participate There was a good article though, that said ethanol production only account for about 3% of the price increase in foods: On Monday, USDA officials met with reporters to discuss just how closely biofuels (specifically corn-based ethanol) are linked to the increasing price of food. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, who has vehemently defended biofuels before, had this to say: One theory that has been widely discussed in recent weeks is that the nation
[...] The United States Department of Agriculture tells us that only 3% of the global rise in food prices is due to the production of biofuels. [...]
Why all the fuss about corn production. There are many other natural resources that are possibilities for harvesting necessary materials for production of biofuels. There is talk about using jetropha, which will be 10 times more efficient in producing ethanol and bio diesel. There are plans to begin planting in the very near future. There are already several million acre plots of land being prepared for this new plant. And plenty of other new innovations that will make this easier for us on the roads and in the check out line, all without using all of our countries corn. Yes, we can increase production of corn and still use it, but there is also relief available for that, just not quite yet.