Today in Biofuels Opinion: Missouri Governor says biofuels not to blame for food prices; National Review calls for end to ethanol mandate

The Portland Tribune carried an article by the Special Assistant to the Director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, saying that “Whatever else one may criticize about corn ethanol, or biofuels in general, they are not the primary cause of recent food price increases…80 percent of the retail grocery cost is added after the food leaves the farm… the 4 percent to 5 percent increases in food prices during the last year can be broken down as follows:0.2 percent to 0.3 percent due to ethanol use of corn, 0.8 percent to 1 percent due to gasoline/fuel price increases, 3.5 percent to 4 percent due to other causes.

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt told the News Leader that “the state’s ethanol mandate has nothing to do with the rising cost of food and feed for raising livestock…soaring grocery bills are caused by the “rapidly escalating worldwide demand for food”…As more people on that planet “try to eat like Americans, food’s going to become more expensive.”

The National Review writes: “The federal government can do something right now to provide relief to Americans facing higher food prices: Repeal the ethanol mandate. The diversion of one-third of the American corn crop into ethanol production is a direct result of the 2005 law that required gasoline makers to buy 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol — a mandate that the 2007 energy bill President Bush signed in December increases to 36 billion gallons by 2022….Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club has started limiting sales of rice because immigrants are buying all the rice they can and sending it to relatives in countries suffering from food shortages.”

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