The Bust of the Great Ethanol Boom

While ethanol from corn is certainly a boondoggle, the world-wide run up in food prices cannot be blaimed on that, or at least very much. The main contributor for wheat is the Australian drought. Locally this has resulted in high prices for the soft white wheat farmers, who compete with the Australians for the growing Asian market. Stated anothr way, everytime the world's grain supply goes below a 60 day margin, the price for grains goes way, way up.

That said, both barley and hops are in short supply, the blaim laid on growing corn for ethanol. All the small brewers in the region (that is a lot) are saying that the price of beer will have to go up about 20%/

I meant to write "below a 90 day margin". For wheat it is currently at about 57 days.