Not so costly corn

It’s amazing how misinformation can spread these days with nothing other than uneducated opinions and easy-to-blame targets. This seems to be especially true in regards to our rising food costs and assumptions of what’s driving up those costs. Some media blast ethanol production and high corn prices as the reason for your growing grocery bill but those claims simply lack the facts.

First things first. According to the USDA, only 11.6% of every dollar spent on food goes back to its origins, the farm. The very place where our food is raised holds a very small percentage of what determines its retail price.

Next you can look at corn specifically and its price implications on products consumers buy regularly at the grocery store.

Even with corn at $7 per bushel, its effect on the prices of the food we eat remains very minimal. So while that seven dollar number seems like an easy answer to everyday consumers, its’ impact doesn’t justify the blame. But what exactly is causing the rise in food prices?

As this blog has stated before, if you’re looking for a real culprit in the reason behind rising food prices, look no further than outlandish oil prices which hold our country hostage. Oil related expenses total 33% of each dollar spent on food, three times more than what goes back to America’s family farms.

All in all, America’s farmers continue to provide its’ citizens with the most abundant, safe, nutritious and inexpensive food in the entire world, and our corn crop is a major contributor to that success.