Thanks to Congress, Ethanol and Biofuel Mandates Cause Food Prices to Soar

[RWSchilz]

Thanks to U.S. policies mandating ethanol and biofuel usage, bountiful meals this holiday season will probably cost you.

For the past four decades, food prices have remained fairly stable, lagging far behind inflation.1 But as the USDA reports, food prices this year are soaring, rising twice the rate of inflation - the highest annual increase in over a decade.2 Corn prices, which doubled since last year,3 are close to $4 a bushel. Eggs are up 44 percent from last year,4 while milk, up 21 percent, has jumped to $3.83 a gallon - the highest retail price since World War Two.5

What's driving record food prices? Federal policies mandating more food for fuel are a big factor. Requirements that we use more ethanol over oil for energy use are causing us to divert larger amounts of farmland from food to corn-based fuel, contributing to record food costs. In 2000, we were using a modest 6 percent of our cropland for ethanol production. Last year, that share increased to 20 percent; this year, one quarter of our corn harvest is diverted from food to fuel.

http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA564.html
:ohno:tsk:thinking

[Nova]

So which would you rather have-more foreign dependence on oil? Or more dependence on home grown corn to convert to ethanol? Me, I vote for more ethanol. And accept the higher cost for corn & meat.

Plus, part of the consumer cost for food is related to transporting it (think diesel.) There could be a slight offset if we can drop the price of diesel by using more ethanol (vs gas) for cars.

[jds6958]

My vote would be for a huge network grid of solar panels, preferably on residentual housing if possible. Then hook us up with electric cars. Then boom, no dependence on anything but the sun, and the sun will be there till end times...

We spent billions on creating national highway system. Why not billions on freeing us from oil? The highway system served us well, imagine how an all solar energy economy would transform us...

geothermal and wind power is ok too, but solar is beneficial almost anywhere...

[Nova]

Funny you should mention solar panels, since I've been thinking of buying them for electricity. Return on investment to recoup the cost is about 10 years where I live.

A big problem is production. Solar panels use chip technology much like computers. And require a significant amount of gold to produce in volume.

[jds6958]

Funny you should mention solar panels, since I've been thinking of buying them for electricity. Return on investment to recoup the cost is about 10 years where I live.

A big problem is production. Solar panels use chip technology much like computers. And require a significant amount of gold to produce in volume.

I've read that in late 08 early 09 a company will be producing panels at a dollar per watt cost and 2 dollar per watt consumer cost...less than half of what it is today...I am hoping that it would kickstart an energy revolution...at the very least I would consider holding off on pushing the buy button as once this goes live your return on investment could be realized in half the time...of course, keep an eye on the Fed grants and state rebates to make sure that those will still be around that time as well...some of those programs offer amazing cost reductions...

I didn't know that they use gold for solars....hmmmm...just another reason to invest in gold....:aha

[Nova]

Could you post the name of the company (or send me a PM) so I could look into it?

Thanks

[jds6958]

Could you post the name of the company (or send me a PM) so I could look into it?

Thanks

Absolutely, I am on my wireless now...I will search for it this eve.

[jds6958]

Nova, here ya go!

http://www.avasolar.com/news/pressDisplay.php?i=12

[Nova]

Thanks for getting back to me with the link. Sounds like they are using different technology. Very interesting.

On a related note, I was watching History International. The projection is that cheap oil will only last another 50 years. So better to gear up & switch over before hand.

[Bernardd]

ethanol..HA!!! What a sham! I can't believe this "fuel" is actually being used and, more importantly, being considered an "alternative fuel."

What we need to do is drill.