Conservatively Speaking
State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.
Ethanol driving up food prices
By Mary Lazich
Wednesday, Mar 21 2007, 11:58 AM
Your trips to the grocery store are going to get more expensive, thanks to the frenzy over ethanol production.
The United States Agriculture Department (USDA) in its monthly crop report says the huge demand for corn from ethanol plants will cause an increase in meat, pork, and chicken prices. Corn is the primary feed for livestock and the price of corn has skyrocketed due to ethanol. Producers of meat and poultry, facing higher feed costs, will reduce production.
Poultry producers have no choice. The National Chicken Council says the cost of feeding chickens has gone up 40 percent. Chicken, the meat most preferred by consumers, will certainly cost more and consumers will be the losers. Tyson Foods Chief Executive Dick Bond said, “Companies will be forced to pass along rising costs to their customers, meaning consumers will pay significantly more for food.”
The culprit is ethanol. Ethanol chewed up 20 percent of last year’s corn crop and is expected to take up 25 percent of this year’s crop. Corn costs $3.20 per bushel, up from $2 per bushel last year.
I wrote in a column February 2, 2007, “Excitement over ethanol, a renewable fuel made with corn, has reached such a high level that there has been a virtual rush on corn. The effects have been devastating, especially in Mexico with a society, culture, and way of life dominated by the tortilla. Tortillas make up 40 percent of the diet for poor Mexicans, and with corn prices quadrupling in Mexico since last summer, Mexico is suffering through its worst tortilla crisis.
Exorbitant tortilla costs created by the buzz about ethanol have left few alternatives in Mexico. Mexicans who can afford food are bypassing tortillas for options that are less healthy, so they are gaining weight. The poor are eating less, eating less healthy, or going hungry.”
We’ve learned the problems created by the ethanol buzz are even worse than the crisis south of the border. America will now produce less meat, poultry and chicken. Shoppers will have to pay more at the grocery stores in order to feed their families.
Governor Doyle is proposing what he calls a $40-million investment in renewable energy. The Governor’s enthusiasm to spend more on ethanol, an unproven fuel that costs more, harms the environment, and reduces gas mileage, will directly contribute to a reduced and more expensive food supply.
