The nationwide push for year-round E15 has put ethanol back in the headlines. Jan ten Bensel is chairman of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, and said the conversation has included a familiar question that ethanol opponents need to answer.
“When you go out and try to educate people and talk to people, there are a lot of good questions. Food versus fuel always comes up as one. We’re driving the price of groceries up, that’s what the detractor would say. But if you go to Walmart today, and you buy an 18-ounce box of, say, Corn Flakes, that’s about five bucks, $4.98, so let’s round up. That’s only got six cents worth of corn in it. You could double the price of corn right now and have 12 cents worth of corn in the Corn Flakes, so the six cents the farmer’s receiving for the price of corn is not the food inflation issue that we take the blame for.”
He talked about the other reasons food prices go higher.
“There are many other factors, from transportation to general labor and manufacturing of food items, but I love my corn flakes analogy, because it’s easy to post to. I’m like, well, if you don’t believe me, Google it. Get your Walmart app, and look at what Corn Flakes cost, and realize that the farmer is literally pulling in about one percent of that product cost.”
In addition to not driving up grocery costs, the corn used in fuel can actually help consumers save money at the pumps.
“E15, as you’ve heard me say many times before, replaces the most expensive, the most cancerous, and the most toxic parts of gasoline, technically ethanol, does not the E 15, but by having a 15 percent blend, we have the potential to offset more of those products. A couple of weeks ago, ethanol was $2, and aromatics, which are the octane boosters in gasoline that are petroleum-based, were $4.26. So, it’s double the price for that first 15 percent of the fuel.”