Congress holds first hearing on soaring food prices
By Alicia Karapetian on Friday, May 02, 2008 from Meatingplace.com
USDA Chief Economist Joseph Glauber told lawmakers on Thursday that increased biofuels production has caused much of the dramatic increase in farm prices for corn and soybeans.
Glauber was testifying at a Joint Economic Committee hearing co-chaired by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) to examine the effect of escalating food prices on American consumers.
Other witnesses included George Braley, senior VP of America's Second Harvest, bakery owner Richard Reinwald and Tom Buis, president of the National Farmers Union. Bruis blamed rising food costs on rising oil prices.
In his opening statement, Schumer also largely blamed oil prices for the jump in the price of food, but also said, "Beyond increasing energy prices, bio-fuel mandates, global demand and weather issues … may also have some role in raising prices for consumers."
The American Meat Institute, along with 18 other signatories, sent an open letter to Schumer and Maloney, calling on Congress to revisit renewable fuels mandates the groups say are leading to a global food crisis.
'Crime against humanity'
While high food prices are hitting Americans hard, the lack of available food in poorer nations is causing global leaders to worry.
President Bush on Thursday called on Congress to approve $770 million in global food aid to help alleviate the threat of widespread hunger due to escalating food prices. Just two weeks ago he ordered the release of $200 million in emergency food aid.
The United Nations has set up a task force to address the global food crisis. Though the official who heads the committee, U.N. Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Homes, has said the global community should refrain from a "knee-jerk response," to biofuel use, the U.N.'s resident biofuel expert, Jean Ziegler, has called the diversion of food to fuel a "crime against humanity."
Targeting biofuels
Meanwhile, some domestic lawmakers have called for changes to the ethanol mandate.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) is circulating a letter among her fellow senators questioning the Renewable Fuel Standard.
"Nearly all our domestic corn and grain supply is needed to meet this mandate, robbing the world of one of its most important sources of food," Hutchison said in a statement on her Web site.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has also penned a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency administrator requesting a 50 percent cut to the renewable fuel mandate in an effort to ease price pressure for his state's agricultural interests. Texas is the largest cattle producing state and home to the nation's largest poultry processor, Pilgrim's Pride Corp.
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