In a speech on Wednesday not far from the corn fields of proud Missouri farmers, Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain blamed subsidies for higher food prices.
“My administration will reduce the price of food by eliminating the subsidies for ethanol and agricultural goods,” McCain told an invitation-only group at the Harry Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. “These subsidies inflate the price of food, not only for Americans but for people in poverty across the world, and I propose to abolish them.”
The senator has previously said that he was opposed to the 2008 Farm Bill calling it “a bloated piece of legislation that will do more harm than good for most farmers and consumers.”
McCain has been in the Senate for almost 20 years. Surely he knows that of the $307 billion in spending authorized by the bill through 2012, $209 billion is for nutrition programs and $25 billion is for conservation. Only about $35 billion goes to agricultural commodity programs, including research and market promotion, with just a portion going in direct payments to farmers.
“Agricultural goods” for the most part are food. America has the safest, most affordable and most abundant food supply in the world – and that is due largely to our farm programs. Like any government program, they can certainly stand improvement. But to make a blanket statement that subsidies for agricultural goods are inflating food prices is just unfair. Congress is on the brink of providing $700 billion in “subsidies” for financial institutions that have made bad investments in order to keep them solvent. A few billion to support our nation’s food supply and the development of alternative energy sources to wean us off foreign oil pales in comparison.
A hot rod built to run on hydrogen is expanding its horizons to run on another green fuel… ethanol.
The nation’s first intrastate public offering for the development of a wind project has had a successful completion… just four months after it was made available to the public.
“Growing Innovation – America’s Energy Future Starts at Home” is the theme for the 
Registration is now underway for the event which promises to be bigger and better than ever in the big state of Texas with over 2500 attendees expected. 
“The Challenge will show how flexible E85 is in today’s cars and shine a spotlight on how ethanol, known primarily for its environmental and economic contributions, is also a high octane product,” said Art Bunting, Illinois Corn Growers Association president.
“This is an important step towards providing Missouri consumers with new energy options that can offer both economic savings and improved fuel mileage,” said Gary Clark, Missouri Corn Growers Association (MCGA) senior director of marketing. “Our goal is to work with MDA and fuel retailers across the state to make sure proper and workable measurement standards are established while helping install locations where consumers can benefit from these mid-range ethanol blends.”
“The start-up of our Stockton plant marks the achievement of our goal of 220 million gallons of annual production capacity and dramatically increases the availability of renewable fuels produced in the state of California. As the largest fuel market in the United States, California will benefit from locally produced ethanol and its feed co-products,” said Neil Koehler, Pacific Ethanol’s President and CEO.
Rains and flooding kept farmers in the Midwest corn and soybean belts out of their fields for a long time this spring. But according to a new report from the USDA, the actual stockpiles of the main feedstocks for ethanol and biodiesel are higher than expected.
