Corn Commentary

Presidential Press Conference

Higher food and energy costs were topics during a presidential press briefing Tuesday morning.

President Bush noted that the high price of gasoline is going to spur more investment in ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. “And the truth of the matter is it’s in our national interests that our farmers grow energy, as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us,” he added.

Regarding food price inflation, one reporter said, “The World Bank says about 85 percent of the increase in corn price since 2002 is due to biofuel — increased demand for biofuels. And your Secretary of State said that — indicated yesterday that she thought that might be part of the problem. Do you agree with that?”

Bush responded, “Actually, I have a little different take: I thought it was 85 percent of the world’s food prices are caused by weather, increased demand and energy prices — just the cost of growing product — and that 15 percent has been caused by ethanol, the arrival of ethanol.”

The president said the United States is concerned about the scarcity of food in poorer countries and will continue to be generous in food donations abroad.