Why is Ethanol blamed for the food increases?

Question

Rumor # 1: Increased ethanol production has dramatically increased consumer food prices.

Reality: The impact of ethanol on food prices has been greatly exaggerated.

First, retail food products such as cereals, snack foods, and beverages contain relatively little corn. For example, a standard box of corn flakes contains approximately 10 ounces of corn. Even when corn is priced at 4$ per bushel, a box of corn flakes contains less than a nickel’s worth of corn (source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Economics research Service). According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, labor costs account for 38 cents of every dollar a consumer spends on food. Packaging, transportation, energy, advertising, and profits account for 2 cents of the consumer food dollar. Just 119 cents of every consumer dollar can be attributed to the actual price of food inputs.

Answer 1

Supply and demand, the more demand for corn the higher the price.  Corn is also used in corn syrup which sweetens a lot of products.  It would be better to make biofuel out of alcohol from fermenting leftover corn stalks or sugar cane canes, or just rot things and use the heat in a machine that exploits heat differentials.  Its not that hard.

Answer 2

No, dear, what is raising prices is demand.  Farmers are dropping production of other crops to grow corn so there is a relative shortage of a number of crops and the cost of feeding cattle, etc.,  has also gone up.

Answer 3

because more than half of the worlds food production is diverted to make ethanol

http://byderule.multiply.com/journal/ite...

And we are also loosing a lot of our forests because of that

so animal extinction is also linked to ethanol

http://byderule.multiply.com/journal/ite...

Answer 4

I think the biggest problem is the hugh cost of fuel . The farmer , getting it to the processor,and the transport of it to the store.