Ethanol Production Could Boost Corn Prices

Ethanol production is growing so rapidly that it may drive up corn prices and push livestock producers into a costly scramble for grain, two former U.S. agriculture secretaries said.

“In our rush to secure our energy security, we could easily neglect the fundamental need for food security,” Dan Glickman, Agriculture secretary for the Clinton administration, told a House Agriculture subcommittee.

Clayton Yeutter, Agriculture secretary for former President Bush, said uncomfortably small corn stockpiles and high prices “certainly could be an issue in the short run.”