> no money to pay for Iowa corn
It’s not just Iowa. There were riots and near riots when ethanol became big in South America and corn/tortillas went up in price. And in Asia when rice went up. And Europe had costs of bread go up (but not the riots in Europe). People all over the world have little money and even without famine the increase in price of basic foods can cause people to starve.
There have always been explanations/excuses removing blame from ethanol when the prices go up after ethanol becomes a major crop. But it’s hard to think there’s no link when it’s happened in multiple continents. It’s not just the land. Even if all ethanol crop is on new land not fit for food crop like they claim, there are other resources that international energy companies get priority over vs local farmers to use at the prime planting/harvesting times (machines & transportation, seed, fertilizer, water, workers)
It’s “very likely” (in IPCC terms) that there would be more food crop around the world at lower cost, which aid organizations could buy/move to the famine areas without ethanol. Enough to make a significant difference? I don’t know. But it’s unlikely that ethanol will make a significant difference in global warming according to many estimates for the influence of ethanol vs other fuel.
There are other issues in aiding a famine (or 4) but cost/availability of food staples is a critical factor and ethanol very likely has some affect. We REALLY need an honest debate about ethanol/food rather than excuses for why there is no cause even though there is correlation.
I read a couple years ago that the average Nigerian spent 80% of their income on food.
More recently I read that the average is down to 60% there.
Isn't Nigeria one of the richer countries there?