Ethanols Defenders Are Speaking Up
The Omaha World-Herald used a year-end editorial to blast those who link corn based ethanol to higher food prices. The newspaper said the accusation that using corn for ethanol somehow drives up food prices is not only false, it also collapses in the face of scrutiny.
The paper points to flip-flop statements from the World Bank as an example. “Two years ago, the bank made a lot of noise about how the wicked United States, by converting corn to ethanol, supposedly was sending food prices through the roof, while the poor people of the world starved.”
It seems the World Bank has changed its position in a recent report that concluded it “has not been as large as originally thought”. Rather than ethanol, the more important factors shaping the rise in food prices were speculators in the food and commodities markets, adverse weather conditions, dietary changes around the world, and the high cost of energy.
The World-Herald reported, “the ethanol industry is small potatoes in the context of global grain supplies. In the growing season just ended, ethanol producers are projected to use less than 3 percent of the world’s net grain supply.”
The editorial concludes with an accusation the those who attack corn based ethanol often have an economic interest in making the charge. ◆