A coalition of groups including grocers, restaurateurs, beverage dealers and unions is asking Congress to change its policy encouraging the production of ethanol because it has helped cause corn prices to double ? increasing the cost of food.
“Food prices are rising at twice the rate of inflation,” said Scott Faber, vice president of the national Food and Beverage Association. Higher food prices compound the other economic problems. Bad weather, commodity speculation and export restrictions in other countries have contributed to the spike in food prices, but U.S. food-to-fuel policies have played a significant part, Faber said.
Ethanol production is now consuming a third of the corn harvest, Faber added.
Called Food Before Fuel, the coalition is made of more than 20 Maryland and national groups.
“This is an issue for the United States,” said Ellen Valentino, executive vice president of the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Beverage Association. The cost of food is “probably going to change the behavior we have as Americans.”
“We have a perfect-storm condition for restaurateurs,” said Sergio Vitale of Aldo?s in Baltimore. Lack of consumer confidence has decreased demand at independent restaurants. Fixed costs such as electricity are up, and so are the costs of ingredients that chefs put on the plate.
Vitale said he expected some independent eateries to go out of business. He also said that the restaurants have many Hispanic workers whose families back in their native countries have to choose between lunch and dinner due to the rise in the price of corn.
Last week, chicken industry magnate Jim Perdue told The Examiner that he expected the cost of chickens to go up at least 10 percent this summer because of the demand for corn. That was before the flooding in Iowa severely hurt the harvest in that major corn-producing state.
