Now here is a rare commodity - an article about high food prices that doesn’t mention ethanol or biofuels even once!
The story is from the Catholic News Service and the author is Barbara Fraser. She mentions drought, high oil prices and increased demand as causing higher prices - but not production of biofuels. But rather than dwelling on the blame game, the article talks about what needs to be done to address the problem.
The focus of the article is the need to help the poor in other countries with long-term policies that include “increased investment in agriculture and development and more consistent international trade policies.”
Lisa Kuennen, director of the public resource group at Catholic Relief Services, said developing countries also must connect small farmers with markets, help people diversify their sources of income so they are not as vulnerable to volatile food prices, and implement land reform.
One of the benefits of the Internet is that traditional media can use it for projects that just don’t technologically fit with their format. Here’s a fascinating example from the New York Times, especially when we’re looking at this debate over food prices.
You can drill down into each piece of this pie chart, wherein you learn that fuel prices have increased much more dramatically between 2007 and 2008 than food prices. And the chart itself says … “The high price of oil is a factor that has made food prices rise quickly.”
A professional speaker and agrifood consultant has started a new blog “to help build connection between farm gate and consumer plate.”
Michele Payn-Knoper is the author of the Cause Matters blog. “The faces behind the food plate have inspired me to find a better way to share material related to telling agriculture’s story,” she says.
Aerospace engineer and author Robert Zubrin has been getting some media attention lately for his book, “Energy Victory,” in which he outlines a simple plan for “winning the war on terror by breaking free of oil.” Most recently, he was featured on a segment of the Business News Network, a popular nationwide TV show in Canada.
Zubrin believes the American public is getting tired of being beholden to foreign oil interests and he advocates Congress passed a law requiring that all new cars sold in the USA be flex-fueled.
Back on April 7, Michael Ramirez of Investor’s Business Daily won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartoons. Among the works in his portfolio was this:
Interestingly, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran this cartoon in today’s paper:
The similarities are striking. The logic is grievously flawed. There’s little to no connection between ethanol and food supply or prices. Read these reports for more information:
Here’s two pieces of advice for young filmmakers who want to make the ground-breaking documentary attacking a popular industry:
Make sure no relative has connections to the industry you target.
More important: Should a relative have such a connection, and you ignore the above advice, make sure this relative also isn’t a journalist.
Such is the problem now facing poor Curt Ellis, whose sister married the brother of a Marshall, Mo. newspaper columnist.
Marcia Gorrell writes poignantly about life on the farm for the Marshall, Mo., Democrat-News. And her brother’s wife’s brother not only called field corn “crap” because he was stupid enough to try and taste it like it was corn on the cob, but made a movie about it and is out pushing it. In her most recent column, she writes:
“It hurts — alot. It hurts because we take pride in what we do. We are proud of the fact that Americans pay less than of their take-home pay for food than any other country. We don’t think our food supply is “too cheap.” We work hard to make that happen.”
Gorrell goes on from here, and talks about how the mainstream media, many of whom have never worked a field in their lives, fell out of their chairs and on their knees with praise for “King Corn,” eating up every falsehood like it was buttered popcorn.
For a real writer with farmland roots, it was indeed painful for Gorrell to see. And I’m sure that at the next family gathering, it will come up (As it has in the past — she’s already sent Ellis a five-page letter critiquing the movie). But something tells me the more they promote their film, the more they will hear about it from farmers and family who know better.
Julius Schaaf, chair of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) says those who say corn prices at “record” highs should get the facts straight.
Schaaf says when you look at the price of corn in past years, there were times when corn got over three-dollars a bushel - and when plotted against the rate of inflation — that equates to over seven dollars a bushel. “So in real dollars, you can’t say that we’re setting record prices,” Schaaf says, “one thing you can say is that we’re setting record prices with oil, when you plot that (oil prices) against the inflation rate, we are setting records.” He says for example: in mid-1984, corn at the farm gate sold for $3.05 a bushel in Iowa, but it would take $6.27 in today’s dollars to equal that.
Schaaf also notes that transportation and packaging are really driving up the cost of the food.
Congrats to Iowa Corn and Radio Iowa for telling “the rest of the story.”
Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, who once scoffed at ethanol, recently told the CNBC financial news network that he now supports increased production of the homegrown, renewable fuel. Pickens cited the $1 billion a day that America spends on imported oil.
The editorial writers appear to have been reading our blog. We’ll give them the final word:
In America, ethanol is currently produced chiefly from corn. Consequently, in their latest attack, naysayers have concocted a near-doomsday scenario in which increased demand for corn sends food prices sky high. Farmers all over the world would plow up forests to plant more acres, leading to an environmental disaster.
The critics’ mistake — aside from gross exaggeration — is that they are failing to look ahead.
One day AP Little was walking into her office when — KERPLUNK – a study proclaiming that corn ethanol will mean the end of the world fell on her desk.
“Oh my goodness!” said AP Little. “The sky is falling! I must go and tell the people.”
On her way to the news room, AP Little met Slimy Timey, who was going out into the street to hunt for stories.
“Oh no, don’t go!” said AP Little. “Here is the story. The sky is falling. Come with me and tell the people.”
So they both proceeded to get their stories out as fast as they could without checking the facts. On the way, they met Fretty Netty and Hoggy Bloggy, who were all too happy to join them.
As they were putting all their stories to bed, Foxy Woxy was busy dreaming up other new studies to create new crises to keep AP Little and all her friends happy telling people that the end of the world as we know it is just around the corner.
That’s the multi-million dollar question on the minds of lots of people right now - one that will be answered to some extent by the USDA’s first educated guess on Monday morning when the prospective plantings report is released.
Business Week did an article today about those who are eagerly anticipating the report - from livestock producers to the ethanol industry to market analysts.
Here are a couple of quotes from the article:
“Everybody is looking to see what that report is going to look like,” said Bob Dinneen, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association. “Everybody is anxious, us included.”
Mindy Williamson, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Corn Growers Association, said the ethanol-fueled demand for corn has changed the dynamics.
“Before we weren’t in a demand-driven market,” she said. “Now, it’s all about demand and you have a choice about where we want to sell (corn) and who you want to sell it to. There are still other things beyond farmers’ control, like weather, but it’s a good time.”
The story is from the Catholic News Service and the author is Barbara Fraser. She mentions drought, high oil prices and increased demand as causing higher prices - but not production of biofuels. But rather than dwelling on the blame game, the article talks about what needs to be done to address the problem.
A professional speaker and agrifood consultant has started a new blog “to help build connection between farm gate and consumer plate.”
Aerospace engineer and author Robert Zubrin has been getting some media attention lately for his book, 
Julius Schaaf, chair of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) says those who say corn prices at “record” highs should get the facts straight.
“Oh my goodness!” said AP Little. “The sky is falling! I must go and tell the people.”