MONROE - Blaming ethanol for higher prices at the grocery store doesn't make sense, Badger State Ethanol President Gary Kramer and others say.
Kramer said there's been much talk in the news lately about how the use of corn to produce ethanol has taken away food from people and animals.
The stories, he said, don't reveal the real reason for the rise in food costs.
"The price of fuel is going up," Kramer said. It costs more money to produce and transport food, he said.
In the past five years, farmers have produced 35 percent more corn, Kramer said. He reported that an article in the Chicago Tribune said soybean production is expected to increase by 18 percent, and wheat planting is up 6 percent in 2008.
Kramer isn't alone in saying that too much is being made of how much corn is used to produce fuel.
United States Secretary of Agriculture Ed Shafer recently said that about 25 percent of the nation's corn crop goes to make ethanol and energy costs have increased food prices. The argument that higher food prices are due to diverting corn from food and livestock feed to alternative fuels is "flat out wrong," the secretary said.
Kramer said the cost to produce, market and transport food can be seen in the cost of a box of corn flakes. In a $3 box of corn flakes, he said, about 8 cents is actual corn. The rest of the money goes to people other than the corn grower.
"If the farmer gets 12 cents instead of 8, the price on the box goes up more than 4 cents," Kramer said.
Kramer said the protein products produced at ethanol plants actually can help people.
"The starch in corn doesn't prevent starvation," he said. "Protein helps starving people."
Byproducts from ethanol can be made into corn oil and fiber, he said.
Along with rising fuel and production prices, demand for more food in China and India has also led to an increase in prices.
Kramer said there's been much talk in the news lately about how the use of corn to produce ethanol has taken away food from people and animals.
The stories, he said, don't reveal the real reason for the rise in food costs.
"The price of fuel is going up," Kramer said. It costs more money to produce and transport food, he said.
In the past five years, farmers have produced 35 percent more corn, Kramer said. He reported that an article in the Chicago Tribune said soybean production is expected to increase by 18 percent, and wheat planting is up 6 percent in 2008.
Kramer isn't alone in saying that too much is being made of how much corn is used to produce fuel.
United States Secretary of Agriculture Ed Shafer recently said that about 25 percent of the nation's corn crop goes to make ethanol and energy costs have increased food prices. The argument that higher food prices are due to diverting corn from food and livestock feed to alternative fuels is "flat out wrong," the secretary said.
Kramer said the cost to produce, market and transport food can be seen in the cost of a box of corn flakes. In a $3 box of corn flakes, he said, about 8 cents is actual corn. The rest of the money goes to people other than the corn grower.
"If the farmer gets 12 cents instead of 8, the price on the box goes up more than 4 cents," Kramer said.
Kramer said the protein products produced at ethanol plants actually can help people.
"The starch in corn doesn't prevent starvation," he said. "Protein helps starving people."
Byproducts from ethanol can be made into corn oil and fiber, he said.
Along with rising fuel and production prices, demand for more food in China and India has also led to an increase in prices.