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The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), which mandated a steep rise in domestic ethanol production, is causing unforeseen negative consequences for food prices while failing to live up to the desired gasoline results and other expectations, concludes a Texas A&M University research team headed by an economics professor who studies energy issues.James Griffin James M. Griffin, director of the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics & Public Policy, which is part of Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service, and Mauricio Cifuentes Soto, a graduate student assisting him, say in their report that the goal of...

At what price will corn be so expensive that the federal government will decide that it is time to stop driving up the price of food? Three years ago, Congress imposed a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) mandate that has forced the gasoline industry to mix massive amounts of corn-based ethanol into the nation's fuel supply. In 2007, Congress nearly doubled that mandate to require nine billion gallons of ethanol be blended into gas in 2008 and even more in 2009. But, as a safety valve, Congress gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the power to waive the new mandates if...

Farm bill boosts nutrition and cuts ethanol credit Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:02pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new U.S. farm law would reduce the tax credit for corn-based ethanol while giving nutrition programs such as food stamps a $10.4 billion increase, House and Senate negotiators said on Friday. "A significant increase in nutrition is really required by what is happening in the market," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, one of the negotiators. "It is ... a reflection of reality." Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, who oversees the negotiations, said a tentative agreement on the omnibus $600...