GMA President and CEO Cal Dooley

‘Ethanol will do virtually nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Even if we
turned 100 percent of the U.S. corn crop into ethanol, leaving no corn for food or
feed, that would displace less than 12 percent of our annual oil consumption.’

companies to blend nine billion gallons of ethanol into the gasoline

they produce. By the end of this year, we will be converting one-

third of our corn crop into fuel. By 2015, when the mandate grows

to 15 billion gallons, at least 40 percent of our corn will be divert-

ed into fuel tanks.

The result of this misguided policy is that corn prices have reached

record highs, driving up food prices domestically and harming

efforts to stave off world hunger overseas. Already, there have been

food shortage-related riots in several developing countries.

America’s ethanol mandates, a compelling proposition at face value,

have set in motion a series of unintended consequences that negate

their benefit.

Industry’s Key Challenge

As I talk with CEOs and senior executives in the food, beverage

and consumer packaged goods industry, they tell me that this is one

of, if not the most important challenge for our industry right now.

That is where GMA comes in.

The Association is spearheading an effort to ask Congress to recon-

sider our government’s current food to fuel policy. The purpose of

the effort is to restore market-oriented policies that stress energy

diversity without negatively impacting our industry’s ability to pro-

vide America and the world with abundant, reliable and cost-effec-

tive food.

We are asking Congress to freeze or roll back the ethanol man-

dates. In addition, legislators should phase out the 51-cents-per-

gallon taxpayer-funded credit that artificially props up the corn

ethanol industry, as well as the tariff that effectively blocks the

importation of biofuels from countries like Brazil that have excess.

To be clear, the food industry strongly supports energy diversity,

but not at the expense of our ability to feed the world. We support

investment in cellulosic biofuels made from crop waste and other

feedstocks –– a strategy that does not force us to choose between

food and fuel.

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, it

takes 450 pounds of corn to make enough ethanol to fill up the gas

tank of an SUV. This same amount of corn can feed one person for

an entire year. That defies common sense.

We are not alone in our effort to point out the flaws in American

policy. We have been joined in this effort by a broad coalition of

farmers, agricultural and food organizations, anti-hunger and envi-

ronmental groups. Other experts have also weighed in, including

the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary

Fund, the Congressional Research Service and the International

Food Policy Research Institute. They all say the same thing –– that

converting food to fuel is driving up the cost of our food. Some of

them say that up to 30 percent of current food inflation is caused

by American food-to-fuel mandates.

Simply stated, ethanol is not the “silver bullet” many thought it to be.

It is driving up food prices for American families, it is crippling the

global anti-hunger effort, its net impact on the environment is com-

ing into question and finally, it will do virtually nothing to reduce our

dependence on foreign oil. Even if we turned 100 percent of the US

corn crop into ethanol, leaving no corn for food or feed, less than 12

percent of our annual oil consumption would be displaced.

We certainly have our work cut out for us in our effort to dispel the

food-to-fuel myth. Some of corn ethanol’s most ardent supporters

–– Republicans and Democrats alike –– refuse to look at the facts.

That is why GMA and a host of allied organizations are moving full

steam ahead in our effort to reverse this flawed policy before it is

too late. If we do not, the problem will only get worse as the man-

dates increase over the next seven years.

America is indeed the bread basket of the world, and GMA and its

member companies are proud of the role we play in feeding the

world. But our nation’s food-to-fuel strategy is making that role

much more difficult to fulfill. One can only imagine that if the

British economist Thomas Robert Malthus were alive today, he

would likely be stunned that Congress is leading the charge to turn

our food into fuel, especially while people go hungry at home and

abroad. ■