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What was your favorite ethanol-bashing moment?

Posted: October 13, 2008 at 09:27 AM CST

There aren’t many good things coming out of Wall Street these days. Perhaps the only thing positive is that ethanol producers get a respite (albeit likely brief) from being slammed in the nation’s newspapers.

Much has been written both for and against ethanol in the past year, so I wasn’t going to spend much blog-space discussing it. However, a recent letter to the editor in my hometown newspaper (which has been decidedly pro-ethanol) caused me to nod in agreement—a rarity in the heavily politicized opinion section leading up to next month’s election. The letter also made me realize how quickly the food-versus-fuel debate has dropped to the wayside.

What food-versus-fuel debate, you may ask. Why would one still exist since commodities prices on the food and fuel sectors are plummeting with everything else? Corn prices are nearly half of what they were three months ago, and that’s with U.S. ethanol production at its highest peak in history. I know, for the most part, I’m preaching to the choir.

One would hope that ethanol detractors have realized that forces other than ethanol are at work to cause the historic rise in commodity prices. Skyrocketing oil prices, a devalued dollar and speculation are three that come to mind.

That recent letter to the editor made an interesting point when it came to using field corn for non-food uses: “We recently celebrated when Microsoft switched to corn-based plastic forks; we didn’t have a fork-versus-fuel debate.”

Is the debate over ethanol over? Of course not, but let’s hope future debates are healthy and constructive.

The current economic situation is no laughing matter, and it benefits no one. I’d much rather see more anti-ethanol editorials than watch people’s retirement accounts dwindle away. However, history has shown us that, with time, we’ll pull through it. And the ethanol industry will be part of that success.

-Dave Nilles