I'm sure you folks are plumb tired of hearin' me rant about the sins of ethanol..

.... and what it's doing to food supplies and prices at my market and around the world! So, I thought I'd share a pretty well written editorial from Bloomberg News;




Ethanol Fantasy Fuels a Food-Price Nightmare
Commentary by John M. Berry



May 8 (Bloomberg) -- Last year, U.S. farmers planted the most land with corn in any year since World War II, and it wasn't enough. Demand for corn rose faster than the size of the crop, boosting the price to about $6 a bushel from $4.
A fourth of the entire crop, the largest in history, is being devoted to produce ethanol, mainly for use as a fuel additive in the U.S.
This year's crop is going to be smaller while ethanol production surges because of federal law mandating greater use of biofuels.
The next president and Congress need to change that law because the U.S. has run out of land on which to grow more corn.
The jump in corn prices has already pushed up the cost of a wide range of foods, including poultry, eggs and soft drinks, which use high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener.
Higher ethanol production wasn't the only reason for the surge in demand for corn and the consequent impact on food costs. Soaring oil prices and droughts in Australia and some other countries are also partly to blame.
This year, corn-based ethanol production is expected to consume more than 3 billion bushels, topping the volume of exports for the first time.
This use of food for fuel is happening purely because federal laws passed in 2005 and 2007 mandate increased use of ethanol and a 51-cent a gallon federal subsidy to make that use affordable.

To read the rest of his column where he offers some answers, go to:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_berry&sid=a.pAPYRaYj98