Texas governor trying to slash ethanol production

WASHINGTON (AP) — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, supported by livestock producers concerned about rising feed prices, stepped up his effort Tuesday to pressure the federal government to cut ethanol production requirements in half. More here...

Texas Governor Rick Perry's ethanol stance stirs up backers, foes

From the Dallas Morning News... WASHINGTON – Texas Gov. Rick Perry has touched off a new battle over America's use of corn-based ethanol, dividing the powerful agricultural lobby and forcing regulators to grapple with the fuel's impact on food prices.

Food price spike: Is ethanol to blame?

From CNNMoney.com. A devastated corn crop is likely to exacerbate costs at the grocer. Some people are pointing a finger at the ethanol production laws.

Addressing the Global Food Crisis

From The Heritage Foundation... A number of factors have contributed to these price increases. Ethanol and other biofuel mandates have created a competition between food and fuel, which in turn has helped to drive up food prices.

Corzine asked to seek ethanol waiver

With food prices soaring in the face of a federal mandate to increase production of corn-based ethanol, food producers and retailers today called on Gov. Jon Corzine to seek a waiver from the ethanol requirement.
"Families in Camden now face the choice between filling up their gas tanks or feeding their families," said Kelly D. Johnston, vice president of government affairs for Campbell Soup Company. More...

It's wing chains vs. peanut farmers in ethanol fight

Chicken-wing restaurants and egg producers have joined other food companies singed by high corn prices in lobbying for a partial roll-back of the national Renewable Fuels Standard, which mandates the use of biofuels. More here...

Butterball cites ethanol policy in local job cuts

From the Rocky Mountain News. Butterball LLC said it will cut more than 200 jobs in Colorado this summer in response to the rising cost of turkey feed and government policies that promote corn- based ethanol as a fuel alternative.

Governor Perry Press Coverage

Fort Worth Star Telegram

Sioux Falls Argus Leader

Austin American Statesman

Austin Business Journal

CNBC Interview

CNN Interview

Repeal ethanol mandates to ease global food shortage

Editorial from the Detroit News.

The only benefit that may come from the widespread flooding in the nation's Midwestern grain belt is that it could provide political cover for washing away the federal government's destructive ethanol mandates.

As much as 4.4 percent of this year's corn crop, or 3.3 million acres, is expected to be lost to the floods covering the central farm states.

Even before the heavy rains, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was predicting food prices would rise 5 percent in 2008.

Floods give more fuel to critics of ethanol

Already under siege from many sides, the U.S. ethanol industry is facing further pressures as recent Midwest flooding pushes corn prices to new highs and federal regulators weigh calls to reduce required use of the fuel.

One of the people calling for that is Gov. Rick Perry, who has scheduled a news conference on the subject today in Washington. Fearing the effects of high corn prices on the state's cattle and poultry industries, he has called on the federal government to suspend or reduce its mandate setting minimum levels of ethanol in the nation's fuel supply.

Complete article is here.

Record corn prices mean more expensive meat, dairy

NEW YORK (AP) -- Raging Midwest floodwaters that swallowed crops and sent corn and soybean prices soaring are about to give consumers more grief at the grocery store.

In the latest bout of food inflation, beef, pork, poultry and even eggs, cheese and milk are expected to get more expensive as livestock owners go out of business or are forced to slaughter more cattle, hogs, turkeys and chickens to cope with rocketing costs for corn-based animal feed.

More here...

US food producers urge ethanol rethink

From the Financial Times... US meat, dairy and poultry producers yesterday urged regulators to re-examine ethanol mandates, which are tightening limited grain supplies and forcing a run-up in feedstock prices that threatens their livelihoods.

"We are facing tighter and tighter supplies of grain that threaten to devastate meat, dairy and poultry producers and cause food price increases for the American consumer,'' said Thomas Elam, president of FarmEcon, an agricultural and food industry consulting firm. "The government must not allow this to happen.''

Ethanol policy boosts food costs, study finds

From Missouri's Columbia Tribune... A new study by the University of Missouri’s Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute shows that in biofuels, federal policy is the puppet master with power to manipulate the economy with market interventions such as subsidies, tariffs and mandates.

Editorial: Reconsider mandates

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel...

The sentiment behind government mandates for corn-based ethanol is understandable, but mandates are contributing to soaring food prices.

Midwest flood may cover nation in higher food prices

From the LA Times. The flood tides enveloping the Midwest will crest across the nation in the form of higher prices in just the places where households have been hit the hardest -- food and fuel.

Video...

MSNBC video on the floods and rising food prices.

Ethanol under fire

Floodwaters aren't just damaging corn. They're washing away support for corn-based ethanol.

As corn prices keep setting records — another came Thursday — the beleaguered ethanol industry faces more critics shouting, "Enough!" Investors raced for the exits, too, as analysts Thursday warned of losses and urged dumping shares in ethanol makers.

"In the last 10 days, the world has changed in the corn market with massive flooding causing irreparable damage to this year's corn crop," said Citicorp analyst David Driscoll.

Biofuels Are Indefensible in Our Hungry World

The world's agriculture and water crisis is only going to get worse. As China and India grow, their populations are demanding more and wider varieties of food stuffs, and competition for arable land is intensifying. Food prices are rising, in large part because agriculture suppliers can barely keep up with today's demand. So what is the world doing? Reorienting land away from food production and toward plants cultivated for energy needs.

Here is the link to the full article.

Federal Ethanol Policies Cause Severe Harm to Virginia’s Economy

HARRISONBURG, VA – June 11, 2008 – A study commissioned by Virginia Poultry Federation (VPF) shows that federal mandates and subsidies for corn-based ethanol are having a harmful impact on Virginia’s economy.

The study, by noted agricultural economist Dr. Thomas Elam, estimates that a federal tax credit of $0.51 per gallon and a nationwide mandate to add nine billion gallons of ethanol to motor gasoline during 2008 will cause a net loss to Virginia’s economy of $863 million this year. The study attributes the economic losses to increased production costs for livestock and poultry producers and higher food costs for consumers.

CNBC Interview with Presidential candidate John McCain

Shares of Pacific Ethanol plummeted almost 6 percent in trading Wednesday, a day after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a lower-than-expected corn harvest and Republican presidential candidate John McCain said the federal government should end ethanol subsidies.

Here is the link to the interview.

Lift ethanol tariff, save a dime

Any idea intended to lower gasoline prices never fails to attract attention, but seldom does it garner anything near unanimous support.

Lifting the tariff on imported ethanol was the lone idea in a recent CNNMoney.com story about how to lower gas prices that had support from a variety of energy experts - a consumer rights advocate, an energy trader, and an academic.

Here is the link to the full article.

True Cost of Biofuels

Fox News recently ran this great piece on the food-to-fuel debate, called “True Cost of Biofuels”.

Area Immigrants Sending Food to Home Countries

As the United Nations met in Rome last week to discuss shortages and high prices of food and international charities scramble to help the nations hardest-hit by the global food crisis, some immigrants in the United States are providing their own version of food aid. They are paying to have provisions delivered to hungry relatives at home.

Here is the link to the full article.

The Food Chain: Worries Mount as Farmers Push for Big Harvest

An article in today’s New York Times regarding this year’s global harvest and increasing concerns that it will be below average. The article mentioned that the Department of Agriculture estimated on Monday that one plant in 10 has not emerged from the ground mostly because many states in the Midwest like Iowa and Indiana, have been experiencing constant rain and the land has become waterlogged. USDA Chief Economist Joseph Glauber commented that “if we have bad crops, it’s going to be a wild ride. There’s just no cushion. The article also noted that due to the rain in the Midwest, the price of corn on the commodity markets rose Monday to a record $6.57 a bushel. University of Illinois professor Emerson D. Nafziger said “We can’t snap our fingers and make high yields. We still depend on the weather.” The articled also cited harvest problems around the globe including the drought in Australia, expected torrential rains in China, and the soaring costs of farming in the Philippines.

Here is the link to the full article.

New York Times Editorial: Politics and Hunger

An editorial from today's New York Times on the global food summit that occurred last week. The editorial criticized that domestic politics of more-developed nations trumped "both humanitarian concerns and sound strategic calculations." at the summit. It also mentioned the factors of the food crisis, including the "misguided mandates and subsidies in the United States and Europe to produce energy from crops." It called for an end to the "fat" subsidies that the richest nations' provide to farmers and noted that "these subsidies depressed food prices for years and discouraged investment in agriculture across much of the developing world. In a world of growing demand and far too much hunger, they have no justification at all."

Here is the link to the full article.

Wall Street Journal Op-ed: How to Continue the Fight Against Hunger

An op-ed from today’s Wall Street Journal penned by Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and professor of international agriculture at Texas A&M, and Peter McPherson, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and former administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The op-ed discussed the global food crisis and possible solutions, and called for a “long-term vision of growth, and integrated investments that incorporates research, human and institutional capacity building, infrastructure, sound policy, markets and governance.” They wrote that the USAID must help countries produce more food and reestablish their reputation as leading the donor world on agriculture. They proposed that the USAID should invest more in agriculture and work with U.S. universities in the area of solving hunger. They concluded that “Food, agriculture and growth must once again become fundamental and sustained USAID objectives. Let's heed the words of George Marshall and focus our resources on hunger, poverty and desperation.”

Here is the link to the full article.

UN summit: corn on table or in tank?

Corn on your table or in your tank? The merits of increasing biofuel production in the middle of a crisis over skyrocketing food prices was being hotly debated at a United Nations summit, but the top U.S. delegate said Wednesday that consensus on the issue was possible.

Here is the link to the full article.

Op-Ed: Energy Lessons

NY Times Op Ed piece by Roger Cohen. Corn is food. Turning it into fuel, which is costly and energy-intensive, removes nourishment from the global food supply. Subsidizing corn-ethanol production in Iowa also diverts land from soy, another important staple.

Here is the link to the full article.

U.N. Says Food Plan Could Cost $30 Billion a Year

From the New York Times. Faced with an immediate hunger crisis and the need to double food production in the next 30 years, world leaders meeting Tuesday to discuss soaring food prices were mostly in agreement on how the problem could be resolved. The questions were how to get there and who was going to pay for it.

Here is the link to the full article.

Bioenergy: Fuelling the food crisis?

From the BBC. The biofuel debate is electrifying the UN food price crisis summit in Rome, pitting nations against each other and risking transforming bioenergy - once hailed as the ultimate green fuel - into the villain of the piece, the root cause behind global food price spikes.

Here is the link to the full article.

Is corn boom expanding Gulf of Mexico's 'dead zone'?

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Some fear an ethanol-fueled harvest in the Midwest may be behind the hard times for marine life at the other end of the Mississippi River.

Here is the link to the full article.

Food Summit Heads for Biofuels Clash

Biofuel subsidies came under attack on Tuesday at the opening of the United Nations food summit in Rome as the head of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation claimed that “nobody” understood the diversion of food to fuel cars.

The opening salvo is likely to set the tone for the next three days and put countries such as the US and Brazil, the world’s largest biofuel producers, and also the European Union, on the defensive over their support of biofuel production.

Here is the link to the full article.