Jason Lewis got it wrong ("Let ethanol have a go in a free market," June 26). Contrary to what he says, American ethanol doesn't make food scarcer or costlier.
Because of their increasing productivity, American farmers produced 12.45 billion bushels of corn in 2010 on about the same amount of land as it took to produce a crop half that size three decades ago.
While using 3 percent of the world's grain supply, the U.S. ethanol industry produced 13 billion gallons of ethanol, as well as 32.5 million metric tons of feed for cattle, pigs and poultry.
That's enough feed to produce seven hamburger patties for every person on the planet. Because ethanol doesn't shrink food supplies, it has minimal impact on food prices.
In a recent report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded that for every dollar spent on food, 88.4 cents goes to energy, labor, transportation, packaging and other factors than farmers.
The American ethanol industry supports market-oriented reforms, such as reducing tax credits for blending gasoline with ethanol as oil prices increase.
Investments in blender pumps will allow consumers to choose different blends of ethanol. Incentives for the next generation of biofuels made from wood wastes, plant wastes and municipal garbage will further expand consumer choice.
And let's reassess the $3.6 billion to $4.5 billion a year in subsidies for big oil, so that biofuels and petroleum can compete on a level playing field.
