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the simple notion that rice now costs more because we've converted land from growing food to growing fuel cannot possibly be correct.

I guess they don't teach economics in journalism school.

An increase in the cost of an item will increase the demand for substitute items.

If you raise the cost of corn as a food worldwide (by shifting a significant portion away from the food supply) you will raise the demand, and the price, on substitute items such as wheat and rice.

Of course, he's in the pocket of "big corn."

Except, feed corn wasn’t ever going to be made into tortillas anyway! And farmers are producing more types than ever before.

Another point, Wheat spiked in price a couple years ago ( also coinciding with the big boom in food commodities, gold, oil, potash, lead, copper, uranium, aluminum, tin, potash, zinc, etc etc, apparently the result of a drouth in Australia. Blaming corn ethanol for “the price of rice” is a stretch.

It may be that _corn_ ethanol is a “bad idea” but left unexplained is why so much disinformation and half-truths are necessary to use it as whipping boy for Everything Wrong With The World Today (including “climate change”.

Coal has nearly doubled in price in the last year or so, is that a result of Iowa and Nebraska corn farmers too?

"If you raise the cost of corn as a food worldwide (by shifting a significant portion away from the food supply) you will raise the demand, and the price, on substitute items such as wheat and rice."

You obviously missed the point of the hugely increased production between 1995 and 2007.

"...in 1995 American farmers produced 192 million metric tons of corn. Of this, 14.7 million tons were used to make ethanol, from which 4.9 million tons of dried distillers grain were returned to the grain market. That left 182 million tons available for consumption and export. In 2007, US corn production rose to 349 million metric tons. Of this, about 62 million tons were used to produce ethanol, of which 21 million tons of dried distillers grains were returned to the grain market. This left a whopping 308 million tons available for consumption and export -- an increase of 110 million tons, or about 82 percent, over the 1995 figures.

Lets see, 182 million metric tons available for food in 1995, 308 million metric tons available for food in 2007.

That doesn't look like a "food shortage" to me.

"Of course, he's in the pocket of "big corn.""

The numbers are from the USDA, are THEY "in the pocket of "big corn".