You may have noticed the cost of milk is moo-ving higher these days (Is this pun forgivable?), close to 35 percent higher, to be exact.
According to Sen. Charles Schumer’s office, which surveyed 90 grocery stores in New York City and Long Island, the price hike is a result of the spiking price of corn feed, which is fed to dairy cows. Corn prices are up because the demand for corn-derived ethanol is up.
To help, Schumer wants to lift the tariff on foreign ethanol, which could ebb national demand and lead to lower corn prices.
From the WNYC story:
Schumer wants to increase the supply of corn for dairy by lifting the tariff on foreign ethanol.
But Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, defended the tariff and said higher oil costs are to blame for the rising price of groceries.
Hartwig says the ethanol industry will oppose Schumer’s proposal.
The story is excellent, but the “moo-ving” pun is udderly unforgivable.
Wow, Henry, you really “milked” that one for all it’s worth…!
I always had a problem with leaning on corn only for bio-fuels. This demonstrates one of the down sides. Innovators out there are working on using other raw materials (such as the waste from poultry processing plants). I think that concept has not taken off because a) processing corn into fuel is still a cheaper process and b) the corn growers have gotten the ear of congress to get the government to invest in corn based ethenol only. By rights, the government should be pushing R&D on processing waste into fuel, thereby killing two birds w/ one stone. But I doubt it will happen.
I’ve also heard that the government’s encouragement to farmers to grow only corn and soy beans (which has actually been going on for years) is bad for the soil because it discourages rotating different crops from year to year on any one field, which would apparently help renew the field’s nutrients.
Your tax dollars at work!