Ethanol Drives Up Food Costs

The cost of food rose more than 5 percent in the first three months of the year, and analysts say it's because ethanol production is driving up the cost of corn. It's not that Americans eat all that much canned corn, but corn goes quietly into a slew of products as corn syrup, and it feeds most of our livestock, oh and it also is used to make fertilizer to grow other crops. Add it up, and the budding alternative fuel boom has added a few cents to each trip to the grocery store. Then again, with the cost of gasoline rising, it's hard to know which will cost more in the long run - higher priced food on the shelves, or a pricier trip to reach the store.