Last week’s column about biofuels is misinformed. It cites the recent New York Times article stating that biofuels are “creating devastating effects on forests and food prices.” Platteville is in the heart of farm country and we should know by now the real facts about biofuels, not what someone else thinks from the urban world. The National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau and a United States Department of Agriculture economist have disproved the opinions expressed in the New York Times article. In Brazil they have been removing trees and brush to create farm ground for years, well before biofuels were a driving factor. Here in the United States, farmers are strong promoters of conservation. While grain prices are up, we still work to protect the productive soils to maintain high production. Biofuels reduce greenhouse emissions by recycling carbon rather than just spewing it out. As for increased food prices, this is grossly exaggerated.

In a box of corn flakes, corn only accounts for about 10 cents of the price, the rest is branding, marketing, transportation and markup. In livestock production, while slightly more grain is in a pound of meat, it is still a very small percent that actually comes from the price of grain. Many reports have shown that the increase in food prices have come from the rising energy costs. Processing and transportation of food takes a great deal of energy. American farmers produce much more grain than is actually needed for food production. One report showed that the ending stocks of corn in 2007 were about 10 percent of total production. We can afford to produce clean ethanol and biodiesel. The money made from new ethanol plants will stay in rural America and help our local economy. We need to break our dependence on foreign oil, and biofuels are a start.

Reuben Currier
Junior
Agribusiness