Food or biofuel? Dumb question

Inter Lake editorial

The world is learning that there are consequences to an American determination to develop "alternative" energy.

But Americans feel good about ethanol, right? So good that ethanol production has been subsidized to the point where corn for energy has become more profitable than corn for food. Of course, that means less corn being sold for human consumption. And fields that have long produced other crops, such as wheat, are being converted to producing corn for biofuel use, further restricting food supplies.

The predictable result has been soaring worldwide food prices. The United Nations World Food Program is reporting a 40 percent increase in global food prices since the middle of last year.

There are, of course, other factors at play in the equation, such as a weakened U.S. dollar and higher energy costs that also translate to higher food production costs. But ethanol subsidies are at the center of the economic storm that has caused food riots in Egypt, Cameroon and Haiti.

As Time Magazine describes it, "biofuels have become the vanguard of the green-tech revolution, the trendy way for politicians and corporations to show they're serious about finding alternative sources of energy and in the process slowing global warming."

And the trend is likely to continue, considering it's an election year, and presidential candidates have been stumping in corn-fed states like Iowa and Ohio.

What's stunning is the loud, automatic and litigious opposition to petroleum energy development. "Dirty coal" has been demonized but somehow ethanol is blessedly subsidized.

Leftist environmental groups need to be held accountable for the economic consequences of their agendas, or at least they should be compelled to acknowledge those consequences.

Just as there was a movement that led to subsidies for biofuels (never mind that farmers are converting the carbon absorbing Amazonian rain forest into farmland), now there's a growing clamor for the United States to "do something" about global warming.

Guess what. There will be consequences. Carbon taxes, or cap and trade solutions, are essentially increases in the cost of doing business. And those taxes or cost increases, whether leveled on energy production or manufacturing, have a way of trickling down through all economic sectors, including food production.

In the end, the planet's poorest people will be hurt the worst. Whether they are trying to travel, to feed themselves or simply heat their homes, they are in for some stiff cost increases as the green agenda advances.