Meat prices rising because of ethanol demand.

[NNadir]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070309/ap_on_bi_ge/crop_report

WASHINGTON - Strong demand for corn from ethanol plants is driving up the cost of livestock and will raise prices for beef, pork and chicken, the Agriculture Department said Friday.

Meat and poultry production will fall as producers face higher feed costs, the department said in its monthly crop report. Ethanol fuel, which is blended with gasoline, is consuming 20 percent of last year's corn crop and is expected to gobble up more than 25 percent of this year's crop.

The price of corn, the main feed for livestock, has driven the cost of feeding chickens up 40 percent, according to the National Chicken Council. The council says that chicken, the most popular meat with consumers, will soon cost more at the grocery store. The industry worries the competition from ethanol could cause a shortage of corn.

The average price of corn, unchanged from last month, is $3.20 a bushel, up from $2 last year.

While chicken producer Tyson Foods Inc. posted its first profitable quarter in a year Jan. 29, executives warned that a dramatic rise in feed costs will raise chicken prices.

No skin off my back.

[phantom power]

1. I've been nursing a theory...

that the public will "get" climate change and peak oil when it shows up in their grocery store. I guess I won't have to wait long now, to test my theory.

[fasttense]

2. I'm not sure I'm buying this reason for food price increases.

I don't see any ethanol being used and yet prices are going up. So what caused the spike in prices all last year? This is merely hype. It is being used as an excuse to raise prices.

[NickB79]

5. New ethanol plants are springing up in the Midwest like mushrooms

Dozens have gone up in the past year, and there are almost 100 currently under construction or planned to be build within the next few years.

Ethanol is being used a lot more than you think, it's just not as obvious as an E85 gas pump at the local gas station. It's being used as an oxygenator, replacing the MTBE additive that used to be used before it was found to pollute groundwater. Many states now mandate a 10% ethanol/gasoline blend that runs fine in any normal gasoline engine with no modifications. My dad is a farmer in Minnesota, and a lot of the corn he used to sell for cattle feed is now going to ethanol production at the local ethanol plant that went up a few years ago.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Vegetarians everywhere express indifference.

Well, maybe Southern vegetarians are a little concerned about the price of cornbread ... speaking as one myself ...

[phantom power]

4. The economic disruption implied by this will affect everybody, including vegetarians.

[NNadir]

6. I think we should let it play out. We need to put this one away once and for all.

If it works, everybody wins. If it fails, it requires the serious evaluation of other options.

I think it will fail, but I'm tired of hearing about it. The sooner we get over it, the better.