Food & Fuel

NEW: Download fact sheet on gas prices and food prices

What's New:

• U.S. Corn Growers: Producing Food & Fuel
• Ethanol Economies from Ranch to Restaurant (CFDC, Fall 2008)
• EPA denies Texas request for an RFS waiver (8/7/08)
• EPA fact sheet outlining the decision
• Voters want more ethanol, according to new poll (July 2008)
• Official ACE comments to EPA in Texas RFS waiver request (June 2008)
• USDA, DOE examination of food-fuel in response to Senator Bingaman (June 2008) - agency analysis shows that 97% of the increase in food prices has nothing to do with biofuels, and that gas prices would be 20-35 cents per gallon higher without ethanol.
• Senator Bingaman letter to USDA, DOE Secretaries asking for a fact-based examination of food prices (May 2008)
• Virginia Governor: RFS waiver "would not have a meaningful impact on food prices" (April 2008) 

The Facts:

• Higher grocery prices have more to do with energy costs than corn costs.  Crude oil at these high prices makes it more expensive to process, package, and ship everything - including groceries.
• Research has found energy prices to have at least twice the impact on the Consumer Price Index for food than corn prices do.
• Less than 20 cents of your food price dollar goes toward on-farm costs like grain; more than 80% of the real cost of food comes from off-farm costs, energy-intensive costs like processing, packaging, labor, and transportation.
• Gas prices have more than doubled since 2002, costing Americans more than $250 billion annually.
• Analysts say oil and gas prices would be 15% higher if ethanol producers weren't expanding their output; at today's retail gas prices, ethanol is a value of about 50 cents a gallon to American consumers.

Research List:

• The Effects of Ethanol on Texas Food and Feed (Texas A&M University, April 2008)
• What's Driving Food Price Inflation?  (Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, April 2008)
• Ethanol and Food Prices - A Preliminary Assessment (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, April 2008)
• Analysis of Potential Causes of Consumer Food Price Inflation (Informa Economics, December 2007)
• The Relative Impact of Corn and Energy Prices in the Grocery Aisle (LECG, June 2007)
• Retail Realities - Corn Prices Do Not Drive Grocery Inflation (Food & Water Watch, September 2007)
• Issue Brief: Ethanol Production's Impact on Food, Feed, and Fuel (Clean Fuels Development Coalition, Summer 2007)

Latest News

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