Some Texas Truth on Ethanol and Feed Prices

Some folks concerned about the cost of corn and livestock feed are pointing their fingers, again, at ethanol. We’ve been down this road before but maybe it’s time for a refresher course from the esteemed Texas A&M University’s Agriculture and Food Policy Center, which issued a very clear report back in 2008 that holds true today as well.

You can download it here.

Some interesting points the researchers make:

“The underlying force driving changes in the agricultural industry, along with the economy as a whole, is overall higher energy costs, evidenced by $100 per barrel oil.”

“This research supports the hypothesis that corn prices have had little to do with rising food costs.”

“Relaxing the RFS does not result in significantly lower corn prices. This is due to the ethanol infrastructure already in place and the generally positive economics for the industry. The ethanol industry has grown in excess of the RFS, indicating that relaxing the standard would not cause a contraction in the industry.”