End ethanol mandates

With soaring food prices, the idea of rolling back ethanol mandates continues to gain steam in Washington.

Keith Collins, the former Agriculture Department chief economist, will release a study on Monday saying that as much as half of the sharp increase in corn prices over the last few years is due to the demands of ethanol production.

That view diverges sharply from the view of Mr. Collins’ former boss, Mr. Schafer, who said at a Rome conference that only a tiny percentage of the increase in world food prices was due to American ethanol production.

“We’ve seen a tremendous range of unintended consequences” from the requirement that increasing amounts of ethanol be blended into gasoline, Mr. Collins said.

The economist, who was hired by the Kraft food company to prepare his report, said he would be surprised if the Agriculture Department did not open up some conservation lands. He would not speculate about a change in the ethanol mandates.

The White House will be forced to confront the ethanol issue next month. States are allowed to asked for waivers of the mandate for corn ethanol on the ground that it is harming the economy or the environment.