Fears of worsening food crisis growing in US

A dwindling food supply is causing foods like soybeans and corn to rise steadily. The average price of a bushel of corn was five dollars in June. It’s now closer to eight dollars.

The food supply is more alarming now than ever. Corn yields are now estimated to come in at the lowest level in over 15 years, and the corn crop size will be the lowest in 5 five years. With the UN warning on the world food supply, many experts in the US are wondering if ethanol fuel subsidies are even worth it anymore.

The government mandates that farmers designate a certain number of corn crops for fuel. But experts say at a time of such a major crisis, the mandate should be lifted to free much needed corn supply to grocery distributors.

Critics of the corn-based fuel subsidy are pointing fingers at the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has already passed a 300-day mark in delaying a response to a formal petition urging that the government allow more corn to be used as food. Both houses of Congress have also drawn up paperwork to pressure the agency.

So far, the EPA does not seem willing to budge, despite requests from lawmakers and many members of the agricultural industry and suffering Americans. The ethanol industry maintains that waiving the fuel standards is still premature. Americans waiting for food price relief are stuck between government policy and mother nature.