Nobody "goes hungry" because of ethanol. Production of ethanol from corn actually INCREASES the total food supply. The reason it does is that the corn used for ethanol is EXTRA corn planted over and above what farmers would normally produce for food use, and that the entire food value of that extra corn is NOT all converted to ethanol....only the carbohydrate fraction is. The protein and fat (oil) fraction are still around, and end up in the total food chain as, guess what, CATTLE FEED (well, I suspect some of it actually goes to pigs, chicken, and other livestock, but you get the point).
How many corn ethanol refineries would exist without subsidy?
“The reason it does is that the corn used for ethanol is EXTRA corn planted over and above what farmers would normally produce for food use,”
I myself wasn’t aware of that. But still, wouldn’t that land that is now used for ethanol production be used for some other grain, like wheat for example?
That would put at least some downward pressure on wheat prices. It seems to me we’re not better off fooling around with food like this. Especially since food inflation is potentially a real problem here in the U.S..