Even Keeled

The food crisis meme will get gobs of attention the closer we get to election day.  Sadly, I think mainly because a worldwide food shortage engenders a state of “panic and fear” akin to every other pseudo-epidemic.  Tailor made for the 6 o’clock news…Riots! Global Chaos!  Nothing you can do! Only this one may actually be real.

The CNN article really doesn’t provide answers or detail “why” and “what can be done”.  They do passively debunk the often quoted ethanol excuse:

“The contrived food vs. fuel debate has reared its ugly head once again,” the Renewable Fuels Association says on its Web site, adding that “numerous statistical analyses have demonstrated that the price of oil — not corn prices or ethanol production — has the greatest impact on consumer food prices because it is integral to virtually every phase of food production, from processing to packaging to transportation.”

I don’t believe shifting crop production is the cause.    Just recently, there were numerous reports of a drop in overall corn production, not an increase with the focus going to ethanol.  Something still doesn’t add up.