Reply #8: In the U.S., ethanol is much more often made from corn, which has gone up in price.

[amandabeech]

Corn has been used to feed poultry, hogs and beef. Since corn is so expensive, some beef feedlots have switched to wheat, driving up the price of wheat.

Also driving up wheat prices all over have been a series of bad harvests in Australia, a major wheat exporter, as a result of long term drought. That drought seems to be easing and Australia is expecting a much better crop this year. Last year, western Canada had unfavorable weather, and was unable to export the usual huge crop.

World grain stocks are as low as they have been for 20-30 years right now, and supplies are tight everywhere. What we need is a series of bumper crops in the usual places and an end to ethanol subsidies for corn here in the U.S.

I saw an interesting article about improving yields in sub-sahara Africa. Apparently, much of the soil is acidic and thus will not produce high yields even with fertilizer. What the African farmers need is agricultural lime, which is less expensive and which made be made from local lime deposits in some areas. I hope that more work can be done in this vein. Increasing crops there would be very helpful.

Otherwise, it is a good time to start a garden and look for alternative sources of carbohydrates for home cooking.