National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Bob Dickey released the following statement on the Congressional Budget Office’s April 8 report, “The Impact of Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions:”

“We applaud this report, the next chapter in a growing narrative that shows ethanol is not principally responsible for higher food prices despite what food companies have tried to make consumers believe during the past 12-18 months.

“The report found that the increased use of ethanol accounted for 0.5-0.8 percentage points out of the 5.1% increase in food prices between April 2007 and April 2008, representing 10-15% of total food price increases.

“We note that the impact of higher energy costs on food prices represented 36% of the overall food price increase. We hope that those who are truly concerned about increased food prices will look to those causes that have played a more significant role, and join grocers and others who are holding food manufacturers accountable for increased food prices at the same time commodity prices – even those for energy – have dropped.”

The report is available for download online at Congressional Budget Office.