ETHANOL is a cleaner-burning biofuel that's all the rage in the halls of power, but, as the saying goes, it's not much good for making corn tortillas. The beauty of ethanol is that its root ingredient can be all-American corn or even wood wastes or wild grasses. The problem, for now, is that science and technology have yet to catch up, so commercially viable U.S. ethanol must come from corn. And that puts your gas tank in competition with your kids' bellies for an increasingly valuable resource.

And here's where we run directly into the principle of unintended consequences.

We're seeing some of them in Haiti and other parts of the Third World, where people are rioting over food prices. Think you have it tough at the grocery? Wait until your governor has to call the National Guard to quell food thefts from fields and warehouses. World Bank President Robert Zoellick warns that 33 nations risk social upheaval over food prices.

How much is ethanol to blame? Some experts say a quarter to a third, others say 10 percent to 15 percent — but there's no denying that the more U.S. acreage pushed into producing corn for ethanol, the higher prices go. Arable land is not a zero-sum game, but one ripple effect is that land converted to higher-priced corn is not available for other crops.

And corn, as we've learned, needs more water to grow than other grains.

C. Ford Runge, a University of Minnesota economist, tells The New York Times that he wouldn't guess

Advertisement
how much biofuel production is affecting food prices, with droughts and rising demand also to blame. Then again:

"Ethanol is the one thing we can do something about," he says. "It's about the only lever we have to pull, but none of the politicians have the courage to pull the lever."

Congress, in fact, mandated a fivefold increase in biofuel production in its 2007 energy bill. While some in Congress are getting wise to the unintended consequences, we worry that not enough thoughtful people are steering the debate, especially on the misguided farm bill nearing a vote in Washington.

Renewable fuels are a worthy goal — anything to reduce the amount of oil we must import. But "anything" includes a careful examination of the costs, as well as the benefits, of corn-based ethanol.

Dallas Morning News

Editorial