The rush to find a scapegoat for high food prices last year largely led to the “burning at the stake” of farmers and those involved in corn based ethanol production…now clearly that was largely overdone. Let’s face it, the facts are that corn based ethanol is not the best alternative longer term but it is however the only truly viable and abundant source right now as an additive to our gasoline supply. Ethanol mandates have been at 10% for along, long time but now are set to rise as much as 13%, so actually ethanol demand is going to significantly increase, not drop.

Frighteningly though, we have less farmers who are able to plant corn do to ever increasing input costs and a lower cash corn cost. On top of all of that ethanol plants (at least 30 of them) have been shuttered and many elevators have gone bankrupt. All and all this is shaping op to be a disaster.

Before we rush to blame farmers for this debacle and the media runs to blame “failed Bush” policies, take a closer look at what is really going on, and the next time you go to the grocery store take a minute to think where that carton of milk and that bread really came from!