[garandgal]

Well, from the posts I've read so far on this thread; most didn't even bother to read past the headline.

I agree with many points in this article. Except that, as usual, no one can get it through their thick heads that the corn used to make ethanol is processed to remove starch, and then is fed to cattle; losing little of its feed value.

So, the specious claim about this-or-that being much more efficient is simply tossed about as a political football. In this case, by (shocking!) a guy from Brazil promoting sugar ethanol.

I have no problem with him doing this.

However, insinuating that the corn is simply being used up is a flat-out lie; always has been; always will be. As is the idea that the production of ethanol consumes more energy that it yields.

At least this reporter understands that the true driving forces behind food prices are oil, and the declining dollar. Kudos to him for that.

[AFPhys]

I have no problem at all with ethanol or other “biofuels” if ALL SUBSIDIES were dropped. Despite my longstanding opposition to mixing/ substituting ethanol for gasoline, I recognize that there might be some role for it which should be explored in the free marketplace.

What is being done NOW bears no resemblance to honesty and sensibility in economics, and DOES contribute to higher food prices. I will grant that other factors have contributed, too, but the moronic drive to burn corn is a very significant factor in higher food prices worldwide, and now, deaths worldwide.

[neverdem]

Thanks for taking the trouble to read it. It’s the NY Times. It can be so frustrating to post as a source. I’m so tired of reading, “I stopped reading right there.” It’s like everything that they write must be wrong. Meanwhile, so many other sources have a leftward bias. It must be over 90 percent. Just finding fair stuff is hard enough.

[budwiesest]

the true driving forces behind food prices are oil, and the declining dollar.

Tell that to the folks (hoarders) trying to stuff two or three bags of rice into their carts at Sam's Club or Costco.

[Polybius]

Except that, as usual, no one can get it through their thick heads that the corn used to make ethanol is processed to remove starch, and then is fed to cattle; losing little of its feed value.

It is true that corn grown for ethanol production loses little of its feed value ..... if you are a cow.

If you are a human, more and more farm acreage is being diverted from producing crops, such as soybeans and wheat, that you can consume directly to producing a corn crop that only automobiles and cattle consume directly.

X number of bushels of grain can support Y number of people that consume it directly.

X number of bushels of grain fed to one steer can feed (Y-Z) number of people while Z number of people starve.

With a decrease in the supply of crops that you, as a human, can eat directly, the prices of those crops increases in accordance with the laws of supply and demand.

Ethanol demand: Growth and implications for grain producers ..... Midwest agriculture is in the midst of a rapid shift from primarily a food producer to being a major source of energy as well. ..... In Iowa, combined corn processing capacity for ethanol and other corn products will soon be equivalent to more than half of the 2006 Iowa corn crop. .... If all planned plants are built, processing capacity would be equivalent to 133 percent of last year's crop--within three to five years. .... Until the economics of converting corn to ethanol deteriorate through higher corn prices and lower ethanol prices, the expansion is almost certain to continue. Because of limited crop acreage, U.S. processing of corn for ethanol appears likely to reach an upper limit of about 5.5 billion bushels by the end of this decade. ... With rapidly expanding ethanol demand, the main job of the corn market through spring will be to keep corn prices high enough to encourage at least a 12 to 14 percent increase in 2007 U.S. plantings. .... Acreage of grain, soybeans, and cotton nationally has declined by about 15 million acres in the last 10 years. Declining total acreage tells us that most of the extra corn acres will have to come from other crops. That means shifting soybean acres to corn, although a few extra corn acres may come from oats, hay, and pasture, as well as wheat in the eastern and extreme western parts of the Corn Belt.