March 4, 2011
Last week, corn futures prices approached levels not seen since June and July 2008, when nearby futures settled above $7.50/bu. With corn prices again approaching record highs, attacks on corn ethanol are soon to follow, as they did in 2008, when critics argued corn should be reserved to meet food demand, rather than fuel demands.
This year, corn growers should be ready for attacks against their industry with facts such as those recently posted online by Bob Stallman, President, American Farm Bureau. In the article “The Ethanol Question,” Stallman states, “Instead of pointing fingers at ethanol for increased corn prices, we need to look at what’s really driving demand – energy prices, weather-related issues and a growing global middle class.”
Indeed, one could better argue that it is our nation’s poor management of our access to global oil supplies – not the rise of corn ethanol as an industry – that is really driving the high price of energy, and therefore food.
Read this article in its entirety at: Be Ready for Another Food Vs. Fuel Fight.
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