CFDC’s Douglas Durante, Letter to the Editor, Christian Science Monitor —
In response to your Jan. 18 editorial on rising grain prices: Naming ethanol as the main driver of rising food costs is misinformed. Multiple studies have shown that a number of factors affect the cost of food, most notably labor, fuels, transportation, packaging, and other nonfarm costs.
A study released in December of 2007 by a Memphis-based research firm shows that corn prices have minimal impact on the US Consumer Price Index for food, based on 20 years of price data.
Additionally, studies by the federal government have shown that one-third of the grain used in the ethanol process is maintained and goes back into the feeding cycle. Increases in corn yields will allow the US not only to meet fuel needs but also to increase both exports and reserves.
The new US energy bill does require the use of 36 billion gallons of biofuels within the next 15 years. However, the majority of that must come from nonfood sources including wood chips, switchgrass, and other inexpensive and readily available biomass.
These second-generation biofuels will provide a host of financial, environmental, and energy benefits in contrast to environmentally costly and increasingly expensive fossil fuels.
~ Doug Durante
Executive Director, Clean Fuels Development Coalition
Bethesda, Md.
The Letter to the Editor above was in response to The Christian Science Monitor, The Global Grain Bubble: As Prices Soar, Riots Rise. But It’s Not For Lack of Crops. The Cause? A Rush to Biofuel and Grain-Fed Meat