ok, great points on drought having no impact.
But I’m not sure ethanol is to blame here, b/c ethanol mandates haven’t gone up anywhere in a decade unless I’ve missed something?
So it may well be that the spike in beef is due to the cost of feed...but if beef is at an all time high, where is the price of corn? I can’t say I’ve followed that actually. Is it also at or near an all time high?
With respect to the ethanol mandate, yes, I would say you missed something. The amount mandated for fuel has gone up every year since the law went into effect until 2013 [it's under the control of the EPA.]
Even when the blend percentage in gasoline does not go up -- basically it can't because Ethanol is already too destructive in internal combustion engines -- the corn is still purchased and ostensibly converted to ethanol. It may very well be rotting in US govt. grain storage as corn starch, converted to ethanol and burned up... who knows? We have several BILLION pounds of nonfat dry milk converted from excess production purchased by USDA over the last several decades to manipulate butterfat/milk prices.
EPA has actually missed its targets every year, thank God. In 2015, they decided to end the moratorium and increase the quota yet again. http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/29/despite-thunderous-opposition-epa-increases-the-ethanol-mandate/