thanks bush ice cream cone (med) $4 in maine
From The TimesJuly 16, 2007
Ice-cream makers frozen out as corn price risesSuzy Jagger and Carl Mortished
What’s the connection between ethanol, the biofuel produced from corn, and a cherry vanilla ice-cream?
Answer: the first is responsible for pushing up the price of the other.
This month, the price of milk in the United States surged to a near-record in part because of the increasing costs of feeding a dairy herd. The corn feed used to feed cattle has almost doubled in price in a year as demand has grown for the grain to produce ethanol.
Christina Seid, whose family have been making ice-cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory for 28 years, said yesterday that she expected to have to raise her prices, along with all competitors in the short term. “We are holding out as long as we can, but prices will rise,” Ms Seid said.
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Amy Green’s Ivanna Cone ice-cream emporium in Lincoln, Nebraska, has already raised its prices for a small cone to $3.50 before tax, up from $2.95 a few months ago. She also estimates that she is paying $150 more a week for the butterfat that she uses in her ice-cream.
The squeeze on ice-cream makers, chocolate manufacturers and pizza companies – all of whom use dairy produce as a raw material – is set to tighten as the price of a gallon of milk in the US – up 55 per cent in the past 12 months in some American states – is now the same as a gallon of petrol, with dairy prices accelerating faster than the cost of fuel.
Prices for dairy products have also risen because of increasing demand from China and the Middle East along with the drought in Australia, reduced subsidies in the European Union and the rocketing cost of corn.
Have your say
Nik Nak said:
"The amount of energy required to produce more energy is so inefficient that we are going backwards in our efficient consumption."
Excellent point. Most people don't realize that it takes three gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol, at the plant. Add to that the amount of water it takes to grow corn, coupled with more and more acres of corn being planted because of its inflated price, and we'll all see an already overstressed Ogallah Aquifer in the plains continue to be depleted.
Where is the leadership? Isn't there any common sense left anymore?
Tj, Goodland, KS
I was at the store yesterday and Milk was $4.17 per gallon. Gas here is $2.89 per gallon... but my kids can't drink gas.
I always thought it was stupid that juice cost twice (if not more) than soda.
Yup, all the "experts" are screaming about our nation's children getting fat, but there isn't much help out there for the average joe trying to make an honest living and still feed his family healthy food when food and gas prices keep rising when wages don't
Mom of Twins, Ft. Worth, TX
Of course, if we were to end the crazy "price supports" system of farm subsidies (that go mostly to large corps and practically never to small farmers), then farming would be based on market needs instead of on politics. And prices would be based on consumers' choice instead of on campaign rhetoric.
Would that be so bad?
Andy Horning, Freedom, IN
There is a basic flaw in any concept that uses food as a fuel in a motor vehicle.
William Herbert, Hedgesville, West Virginia
It is a sin for us to use human food as a fuel for our transportation and energy addicted society. Another unintended consequence of such delinquent behavior is the escalating cost of staple foods in third-world countries. Imagine being a Mexican campesino whose survival depends on the corn meal that makes their bread products. Our demand for corn ethanol quite literally takes food out of his childrens' mouths by making it less affordable.
Let us also not forget the dangers of soil nutrient depeltion caused by continual planting and harvesting and not allowing for natural replentishment of the soil.
Ray Lenz, Virginia Beach, VA
When meat and dairy producers say the prices for corn and soybeans as feed grains are pushing up their prices, something doesn't add up. Ethanol production converts only the sugars and starches in corn to ethanol. The high fat and protein residue is dried and sold as a cheap livestock feed. You can even buy it in some Wal-Mart stores. Similarly, after oil is removed from soybeans, the dry cake is used in animal foods. When producers say they are having to pay higher feed prices, is the truth really that they don't want to learn a different way of handling the feeds?
Marc Reid, St. Simons Island, GA
Corn is a grass. It's ok to feed cows corn. They like it. You're standing on the coal. It's under your feet. Don't like dirty coal? Too bad- the nuclear leftovers cause more harm longer. If California doesn't want to drill any offshore wells-too bad , they still use a lot of oil out there and there are wells off LA and TX. The cost of corn isn't that high. The cornflakes box costs more than the corn in the box. How about a big box of cornflakes for fifty cents?
steve crumbaugh, LeRoy, IL
I am glad the American Farmer is finally making some money. They have had it very rough since the early 80's. The rest of the whiners in the USA should see what real work is about and join a farmer in his field. The irony is the myth that is bio-fuel, ethanol etc ... The amount of energy required to produce more energy is so inefficient that we are going backwards in our efficient consumption. Do the people who support ethanol realize the corn has to be planted, fertilized,cultivated, harvested, trucked to market, then processed before we can derive one drop of oil from the corn? All of those processes require fuel and energy expendature.... it is like giving your money to the gov't and expecting 100% of it back in serivces and refunds .... too much is syphoned off at each level.
Nik Nak, Lake Forest, Ca
This is, once again, evidence of the law of supply and demand. However, the current increased demand is not from converting corn into fuel as the article says; it's because both India and China have become massive importers of grain, including corn.
We are currently in the midst of one of the greatest increases in food consumption the world has ever seen. Over 2 billion people in India and China are rapidly increasing the amount of calories they consume. Like with all other raw materials in the world, the demand for more food in India and China is pushing up the price of it around the world, just as has happened with copper, gold, lumber, scrap metal, etc. Food cannot escape the laws of supply and demand simply because it is so vitally important to human survival.
Brett Champion, Alexandria, Virginia
Why not, those of us who have fought Ethanol subsidies for the likes of Archer-Daniels Midland have been ridiculed and pilloried by the Likes of Sen Bob (Ethanol) Dole, Charles Grassley and the immensely Powerful Ethanol Lobby, i,e. Advocates of the great taxpayer rip-off. The problem for a largely ignorant public is, Ethanol is a rotten fuel, very low Calloric Value, (Low BTU Content) Difficult to handle, Hard to distribute, but still the ripp-off goes on. The poor fools who are shown regularly of TV filling their fuel tanks with this garbage fuel, seemingly not realising they will consume twenty percent more fuel for the sames mileage. Was it P.T. Barnum who said "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American Public"
Robert Granville Lee, Bloomfield hills,, Michigan, USA
to TK...Actually, it is easier to stay thin on a decent income than a low income where all you can afford is filler like spuds, pasta, rice, etc..
Linda, Wausau, WI
Congratulations to all of the enviromentalist! You will now effectively starve to death the world's poorest, yet not affect the wealthy. I have been saying this was coming for quite sometime. The price of chicken is now nearly equal to the price of salmon. A pound of chicken has went from $1.99 just over 6 months ago to $3.99 a pound today. Don't take my word for it go to the grocery store. By the way chickens can't eat grass. This has also driven up the price of rice and other grains. I am not poor but I am certainly feeling the pinch at the grocery store. I cannot imagine what this is doing to those who barely scrape by. But hey, at least you can feel better about your carbon footprint. What a crock you have all bought into. If we are going to go with an alternative fuel it needs to be hydrogen, it is limitless in supply clean burning and extremely cheap to make. This is why the oil companies have tricked you into going with ethanol.
Brandon, Nashville, TN
To: TK, Stamford, Conecticut , USA
Obesity is caused by NUTRITIOUS foods costing significantly more then processed foods which are high in fat and sodium.
How many rich obese people do you see? Now think about all the poor people who are obese.
I am sure you are also all in favor of a "fat-tax", well guess who that will hurt the most? The kids of the fat, poor people in this country.
Congrates on being a mind-numbed robot of the left.
You have $2, what are you going to buy? A tomato or a Whopper?
Ron, Orlando, USA
Linda from Bradenton hit the nail on the head.
Catia, Houston, Texas, USA
Inflation, what inflation? Of course there is one benefit to all of this, it makes obesity that much more costly to achieve.
TK, Stamford, Conecticut , USA
I'm completely in favor of corn prices going up.
If raising corn prices encourge food makers to switch from high fructose corn syrup back to sugar, then it is possible that the current high levels of diabetes and obesity will decline.
And maybe we'll have more pasture raised beef instead of corn fed beef. Corn fed beef may be more economical to raise, but many of us who grew up on pasture fed beef would prefer to never have to settle for corn fed beef.
Walter, Amarillo, Texas
Maybe burning out food wasn't such a good idea.
Dan C, Coldwater , MI
Farmers have not been paid a fair price for milk or corn in many of the last 50 years. Now people have to pay as much for milk as they do for Coke and its time for a revolution. Get over it and let the market prevail.
Charles Parker, North Hero, VT, USA
We, the middle are to blame for putting these politicans into office, think about it,.... there are more of us than the rich republicans.
Blame yourselves, you are voting for your own demise!
lyn, St. Louis, mo
if cows were fed grass like they are supposed to eat, the cost of corn wouldn't matter to the cost of milk. and we'd have better quality milk.
Edward, Morristwon, NJ/USA
What a wonderful idea indeed. Maybe it does actually only take 8 gallons of oil to make 10 gallons of ethanol. That means we really gain 2 gallons of fuel. Only thing is, my car will go about twice as far on a gallon of gasoline as on a gallon of ethanol. Ethanol has far less calorific power per gallon than gasoline. You get far less energy from burning a gallon of ethanol than you get from burning a gallon of gasoline.
Starry eyed greenies do not care about conservation and the incredible waste of resources to carry out their programs. Their real motive is to wreck the economy so we live in idyllic circumstances and lay around under a palm tree enjoying nature, swatting mosquitos, and waiting for a coconut to fall on our heads so we can dine on low fat coconut milk.
vadinho, houston, texas
Let's continue to use ethanol, but maybe instead of allowing construction industries to buy up and use farmland for new housing developments, the U.S. should simply go back to just about the only thing it's ever been good at: farming. I still remember all the places where open corn fields used to be in my part of PA, but all I see now are houses, malls, and restaurants. It's a shame that our country looks down on agriculture so much these days, and instead chooses to save lost causes like the dying auto industry, which should have been given up on years ago. Ford said months ago that it will not turn any profits until after 2007! Give it up... we're chasing the wrong dreams in almost every industry and aspect of our lives.
Jess, Bethlehem, PA
u should only drink milk from grass fed cows
more omega 3 or 6
Audrey, Somers, USA/ NY
It's a farce. It will never help in any energy crunch. It will only damage the food supply.
James, VAncouver, Can
Call your Congressman and Senators now. The biofuel ethanol is not the way to solve our energy problems. We need a combination of alternative energies, including drilling for oil and nuclear, for our future needs in order to grow. The government also needs to give incentives or prizes to private enterprise so they can develop other technology quickly. At this rate we will be paying $10 for a gallon of gas and $10 for a gallon of milk. Who said there isn't any inflation?
Lindy, Bradenton, USA
Blame it on the environmental nazis. Algore and his komrad `green with envy' tree hugging schemers want to destroy this country at any cost. We have the oil for our cars, the gutless polititions are afraid to drill for it.
Corn on the table, oil in the cars.
Ron, Raymond,
That's what happens when you burn food instead of eating it.
Brad, St Louis, USA
You might want to take a closer look into the true reason for the increased costs of most everything you consume, and how the "price" of corn is being used as a weapon against the farmer. The "price of corn" in almost all these type of news releases is being quoted from the CBoT, this is not the price that farmers are recieving, but rather this is the price being traded by large funds (check your IRA, Mutual funds, etc.). It's a paper market and really has not much to do with corn. Call any corn buyer and see the truth about prices. The real kicker here is petroleum, it is used to move just about everything you eat and use. Walmarts and grocery stores are filled by trucks, the food and minerals were mined or harvested by diesel trucks, tractors, or machines. The cup for your coffee to the bottle for your water or soda are made from fuel, and fuel is no longer $48 per barrel, it's headed to 80, nearly double and will get worse because it sells to a captive market.
Kent , Ephrata, Wa. USA
You guys need to read the Ominvours Dilemma by Michael Pollan and you will learn that corn is detrimental to cattle. It cause bloating, illness and the use of antibiotics and radiation to kill e coli which doesn't occur in grass fed cattle. If done properly and the patures are rotated there is no problem of evergrazing. The meat is also more nutritious from grass fed beef. It has a better omega 3 to omega 6 ration-almost 1:1. Corn is used to sweeten everything the USA and is one of the reasons there is so much obesity. In Germany, the Coke is sweetened with cane sugar which is easier for the body to process. Corn is subsidized by the government. Cows are not meant to eat corn. It is not natural for them and it is unhealthy, They need to eat grass and the meat tastes much better-not all pasty. All meat here is grass or hay fed. I am AMerican but know the truth on this matter. grass fed beef will be the future- it uses sun energy and not fossil fuel to raise the corn. Read the book.
Michael, Lörrach, Germany/ BAden Würtemburg
The Bush administration has once again showed it's utter disdain from working class and poor Americans. As Nick pointed out, the Corn lobby is much more powerful than other, more efficient sources of ethanol. Look at Brazil.. they produce their ethanol from Sugar Cane, and it costs less to produce, and the final price of a gallon of sugar cane based ethanol is HALF that of a comparable gallon of unleaded gas. It's cleaner burning, too. Plus, besides Milk and Ice Cream prices going up, Beef prices are rising too. Next time you're in a grocery store, look at all of the products we use daily that have "High Fructose Corn Syrup" among their ingredients. ALL of these products will see significant price increases as the price of corn continues to rise. So, instead of simply our GAS prices rising many of the everyday items we use and take for granted will cost much more. Add to this sobering fact that pay has not kept pace with the Cost of Living and it spells TROUBLE!
Todd, Stillwater, Oklahoma
Higher corn prices don't even benefit the farmer. Mandated ethanol has caused the price of seed to rise and well as the cost of water usage. Ethanol plants use lots of energy and water. It uses more energy to make than you get out of it. The only thing ethanol benefits is the ethanol makers.
Ethanol is the "pretend" green we see a lot of today. We make national policy via slogan. "Ethanol is made from corn so it doesn't use oil." Politicans don't ask how much oil is needed to produce ethanol, what ethanol will do to the price of food, or how that effects the poor. They like their quick soundbites and being seen as being "green." No logic.
We need more scientists, engineers, and economists in government and less politicans who are solely seeking the next election.
Christopher M, Houston, TX / USA
This is another very good example of the "unintended consequences" effect that seemingly disparate items can cause. Who would have thought that milk prices and corn syrup would be related, but then here we are. This is another example of Politicians meddling with the marketplace and the disastrous consequences that messing with free markets can cause. God save us not from our enemies but from our own gubbermint and its hordes of professional bureaucrats with “good†ideas… Now that they have messed up energy supplies (by not letting US companies drill in The Arctic national wildlife refuge and off Gulf Coast), by refusing to allow new refineries to be built (we haven’t had a new one since 1979!!!!!!), and shutting down the Nuclear Power industry. The effects of their incompetence can be seen and felt in elevated energy & food costs. Let’s hope that we ( i.e. the American People) are never stupid and ignorant enough to let them near our Health Care System…If you think it ( healthcare) is expensive now, just wait until the gubbermint gives it away for “freeâ€.
John E Ritenour, Pensacola, USA, Florida
This is corny.
Parley, Becker,
Is there not a single person with a modicum of common sense left in a position of power? This is insanity! Why are we using our food supply to augment our energy supply? It's settled, we have become a global suicidal socicety.
RDK, Orlando, Florida
Sheer insanity -- it takes more fossil fuels to create a gallon of ethanol (including all the steps from farm to fuel tank) than ethanol gives back in energy. And now food prices are rising dramatically while we pay subsidies to corn growers.
We should vote out any incumbent politician that has supported this debacle called "renewable energy".
James, New Britain, CT/USA
Hurray for Ethanol!
Subsidize the burning of food for fuel!
What a terrific idea!
A Special thanks for all the greenies out there for spreading the misery so broadly throughout the world.
Tad Denton, Tucson, AZ, USA
Enviro-Socialists to the rescue, again. Thanks President Bush, the Senate, and the House. Just what the middle class needs. Make sure you help illegals, too.
Mark, Roanoke, USA/Virginia
Celluosic ethanol doesn't use corn and is the only viable future fuel. Only recycleables. No food.
Google "Bluefire Ethanol"
mike, chico, ca
This is just one more reason why it's stupid to burn our food supply when we should be taking advantage of domestic oil reserves, developing clean coal technologies, and building modern nuclear power plants. Ethanol production requires more energy inputs than it produces. Without massive government subsidies to big agribusiness (approximately 60¢ per gallon in the U.S.) simple economics would have killed the idea years ago. Additionally, converting every square mile of farm land in the U.S. to corn and soybean production for ethanol would still leave us largely dependent on imported oil and force us to start importing our food as well.
Dean Johnson, Gainesville, Florida, USA
The perversity is not in feeding cows corn, the perversity would be overgrazing. The idea allowing all cows to graze, so called "good old common sense", would put a huge strain on a limited natural resource: grazing land.
Cattle, unlike some other large animals, notably the Bison, are not picky when it comes to grazing. They decimate large areas of ground, leading to erosion. Feeding cattle corn is not perverse, desertification would be. Just look at Inner Mongolia (in China) for an example of what erosion can do to a country. Sandstorms in Beijing are the result of decimating natural grasslands.
Zach Elmore, Hainan, China
Pete, get a clue! Farmers use corn instead of "natural" grass because it is more efficient at producing the end product be it meat or milk. You like efficiencies in other areas of your life. Raising crops for livestock feed is an efficient way to harvest the energy from the sun and turn it into a useful product. Maybe you prefer to eat grass.
Why is it only in the ag sector that people get looney and want to live in the good old days?! Yeah, let's go back to the horse and buggy and manure lined streets.
Everybody adores advances in science and technology in other areas of life. Anybody want to go back to the medical practices of a couple hundred years ago?! I didn't think so!
Dan, Hallstead, PA
The authors need to get a clue. Dairy prices are up because cheap milk prices the last several years forced out many dairies. Plus the increased world demand and lower supplies. The recent rise in grain prices have very little to do with it. But , let's blame ethanol anyway.
david, higginsville, MO
I've simply stopped buying milk and ice cream. Kinda like meat. The U.S. wants to export meat so my price for a steak goes from 6$ to 9$ a lb. I do not buy it. If the U.S. would develope their own petroleum resouces instead of importing them, and use alternate fuels, and practice conservation which seems to be alien to Americans, these problems would solve themselves. Take a bike ride or learn to walk again.
James, Saint James, Missouri
Ethanol is a scam, is not a clean fuel and will hurt all food makers and consumers. STOP THE MADNESS!!
TOM, saint paul , USA/MN
The cost of gasoline for transportation and cooling is a larger cause of the rise in the price of dairy products. than is ethanol. Ethanol gets blamed by Big Oil for every price increase in order to undermine support for alternatives to oil.
L Hammargren, Avon, Illinois USA
This is a direct result of the Government handing out money to farmers NOT to grow crops in the past. Another nail in the coffin of all humanity.
Cheaprudy, Millbrook,
Ethanol is not the reason milk (and ice cream) prices are increasing. First, milk prices are adminstratively setI. Second, n the U.S. the majority of dairy cattle feed is hay which has not been affected by higher grain prices. Corn accounts for about 10 perent of a dairy annual operating costs. Third, cash market corn prices have declined about $1.00 US per bushel since the first of the year and we are poised to harvest a recond 13 billion (or more) bushel crop.
John M. Urbanchuk, Doylestown, US, PA
Sugar should be used for ethanol..! Brazil has the right idea..
joe, nisky, NY
I guess it's time to buy a goat,
Dan, Fletcher, USA/NC
it is immoral in my view to turn food, which so many hungry people in this world desperately need, into fuel so we Americans can drive around in our SUVs. And the irony is, when you factor in the energy you use to turn corn into fuel, it's not a clean fuel after all. Sugar cane and willow bark provide MUCH more energy for their mass.... but the corn lobby is so strong they pretty much get whatever they want.
Nick, Phoenix, AZ
Food products are not what we want to use for fuel. Bio fuels from non food products ok. We in the US must drill all available petroleum rescores build new nuclear power plant – to goal should be 80%. That would significantly reduce greenhouse gases and petroleum and food prices would drop significantly. No rocket science here.
harvey, jacksonville, fl
To slightly prolong the narcissistic presumption of the American cheap oil economy, food, the most basic of needs, is getting pricier. What a sad commentary on a "civilization" of greed and self-centeredness. The whole ethanol system should be stopped right away--and it's time to end the oil-centered civilization and the gasoline (or ethanol) engine.
Dayahka, Aberdeen, Washington State
somebody is artficially manipulating the price of corn...since the means to process that much corn into ethanol is not advancing, the glut of corn will will drop like a rock and the gov. will be forced to buy it.and lots of people will get rich....remember this article as of 7/15/o7......
ee swider, greenwood , mississippi
No War for big Ice Cream!
Chris, Streator,
To bad if you are numb enough to pay 3.50 for a cone when you can buy a gallon of ice cream for 4.00 and make 20 -6 oz. servings.
food is to cheap, holstine, iowa
Why is this such a surprise, when you use our food to fuel our vehicles you have to know that the price of corn will go up. It is folly for those in charge to mandate the use of ethanol to burn in our cars, the price of food goes up and it wil hurt everyone, and what is so sily is that the amount of energy to produce the ethanol does not off set the amount of energy saved. Come on congress and state legislators, use some common sense!
Leland Holland, Merrillville, Lake, IN
This article illustrates how perverse modern (industrialized) farming has become - what on earth should corn have to do with cows.
Cows are supposed to be eating grass and hay - they dont eat corn in nature. Certainly not soy meal either.
Furthermore there is an irony in the use of corn for cow feed . No doubt this practice became widespread because it was "cheap" filler, but in fact there is nothing "cheap" about it. Mass-farming of corn requires the growers to utilize huge amounts of petroleum resources (which is why the price of it is going up now) - but much if which does not even reflect the true cost to nature - the damage.
When we go back to good old common sense and respect for nature, we might have a chance. Until them, we are in trouble. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Pete Skaw, London,
This is asinine to use food for fuel, this is just the beginning. Will we take a stand or will we keep our heads buried in the sand?
Roger, Monterey,
Al Gore and the elites will not worry, they can afford to pay any price for dairy goods. Its the poor and the middle class who will suffer.
bruce coffin, lisbon falls, maine
So now we should pay high prices for food as well as gas. Who benefits from the high prices? It sure isn't the poor it looks like we have been duped again. I for one will never buy fuel made from corn.
Tom Antrim, Mountain View, Missouri
It is not rocket science to figure that food prices would jump as crops are turned to fuel. Government subsidies are not helping either, taking my tax money to fund uneconomical fuel production which causes the price of my food to go up. I am paying both ways.
maybe oil from coal would make sense if the price were high enough, but good greif, leave the food for feeding the people. stupid politicains, there plan if fully implimented will drive people to starvation.
dave, redwood , America
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