greenenergy
tory and inconclusive. Studies have also found and maize stocks would not have declined ap-
ethanol to be inefficient because its energy out- preciably and price increases due to other fac-
put is overshadowed by the amount of energy tors would have been moderate.”
needed to produce it. said Mitchell in the report.
“Unfortunately, there is nothing on the horizon The infamous Mitchell Report claimed that
that comes close to gasoline as far as cost and about half of the increases in food costs were due
performance are concerned... it takes a tremen- to ethanol production. The report cited the conver-
dous amount of energy to grow corn and a lot of
sion of corn fields from food to fuel production and
energy to distill it into ethanol and get it onto the
grain speculation as two reasons for the rise in
market,” said Jerry Taylor of the CATO Institute.
food prices. He also found the Land Use Change
Alex Farrell and Michael O’Hare of the Ca-
(LUC), policies which encouraged farmers to set
lifornia Resources Board told the Wall St. Jour-
aside land for fuel production instead of food, cau-
nal, “...ethanol could be twice as bad as gasoline
sed a great deal of the strain as well.
from a carbon-emissions point of view... Even if
In a press release, The Renewable Fuels
only a small fraction of the emissions calculated
Association (RFA), a lobby group supporting
[through the change of land use] are adding to
ethanol fuel quickly struck back. They claimed
estimates of direct emissions for corn ethanol,
Mitchell failed to differentiate ethanol from bio-
total emissions from corn ethanol are higher
diesel, a fuel they claim has led to much more
than those of fossil fuels.”
LUC and has a far more wasteful production
A study Farrell participated in found that
process. Furthermore, the RFA asserted that
converting carbon sinks—areas responsible for
corn production has expanded to meet fuel
absorbing atmospheric carbon—into corn fields
needs rather than replace food crops.
destined for ethanol production leaves more
“Examination of acreage patterns fails to
carbon in the atmosphere than burning fossil
show the sharp land shifts Mitchell blames for
fuels. However, Farrell wasn’t convinced of the-
the decline in wheat production and increase in
se findings either. After all, cultivating ethanol
prices,” said RFA officials. The group insisted
removes the mining process and the production
that land used for rice crops doesn’t compete
of mining tools. Furthermore, ethanol produc-
with land intended for corn, wheat, and oil seed.
tion could be made more efficient using farming
Therefore, ethanol couldn’t be responsible for
tools that run on ethanol, and creating farming
the dramatic shift in food prices.
techniques to produce more corn per acre.
US policy imposes a 54 cent per gallon ta-
However, the controversy has recently shifted
riff on Brazilian produced ethanol. Derived
to a matter of food production. Food prices in-
from sugar cane rather than corn, the Mitchell
creased 140 percent this year and a fear of fami-
report claims that ethanol produced in Brazil
ne swept over poverty stricken nations around
hasn’t resulted in the same disastrous course
the world. Debate mounted and experts argued
of events, leaving many wondering why the tax
whether using corn for fuel instead of food was
persists. Still, a recent CBS/New York Times
to blame. Rising transportation costs due to the
Poll reported that 70 percent of Americans said
high price of gas was another possible culprit.
they supported ethanol because it is cheaper
Ethanol proponents met their biggest chal-
and can be produced domestically despite its
lenge last year when the London newspaper,
inefficiency as an energy source and its poten-
The Guardian, leaked an unpublished UN report
tial to cause a rise in food prices.
in which Dr. Donald Mitchell, Lead Economist in
So the debate continues, perhaps leaving
the Development Prospects Group at the World
the consumers’ choice as the only real decisive
Bank, blamed the sharp increase of food prices
factor. It appears as though the world can’t have
squarely on ethanol production.
its fuel and eat it too.
“Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat

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