Food and Fuel America.com: Corn Growers Respond to Food and Fuel

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Corn Growers Respond to Food and Fuel

Jon Doggett National Corn Growers Association Ethanol Food and Fuel

Just how much of an impact are biofuels having on food prices? That was the question posed to the corn growers this week.

In an on-camera interview with Environment and Energy Publishing's OnPoint, Jon Doggett, vice president of public policy at the National Corn Growers Association, says commodities prices are having a negligible impact on the price of food.

He says other factors are contributing more significantly. Doggett also discusses how the 2007 biofuels mandate will affect long-term food and grain costs.

Monica Trauzzi: Do you believe that the use of corn for the production of biofuels is having an impact on our grocery bills?

Jon Doggett: It's negligible. And, in fact, probably the presence of ethanol in the gasoline market is bringing down the cost of gasoline that you're going to use to drive to the store that should probably end up being cheaper than the increase you're going to see in food costs.

Monica Trauzzi: What impact do you believe the 2007 biofuels mandate is going to have moving forward on the price of food and the price of corn?

Jon Doggett: Our trend line yields are going up significantly. We are using better seed corn than we've ever used before. Every year that gets better and better. Our yields are going up exponentially and so I think we're going to have an opportunity to meet that demand, meet the demand in the world market, meet the demand for our traditional customers in the livestock industry, meet the demand for industrial uses, meet the demand for food.