Ethanol And The Food Crisis
Published by gwen May 13th, 2008 in Agriculture, Energy, North Dakota People, Politics and Government.Ed Schafer, Secretary of Agriculture and former North Dakota governor, said biofuels like ethanol account for about three percent of the increase in food costs, which are up by 45 percent since mid-2007.
The Washington Times article this information in also indicated that farm income will be about 50 percent higher this year than the average over the past ten years.
Flat and Treeless posted about this first.
What do you think about this? It seems that Dakotans of both the North and South variety are afraid to say that Ethanol is a boondoggle!
I’d like to know how Ed quantifies this. Take into account the fact that the ethanol craze has resulted in many acres being converted to corn and the increased costs to livestock producers due to higher feed prices, and I think there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It’s just not politically expedient to declare ethanol a scam.
Anything that is subsidized at over 50 cents a gallon while imported product is taxed over 50 cents a gallon is highly suspect in the first place. Here we see the worst case scenario of what ill-conceived subsidies can do to the marketplace.
Actually, I think I stole the post from Say Anything Rob.