Promotion of Biofuels Affects World Hunger

Indian corn. Corn mazes. Haunted Corn Mazes. Corn on the cob. All of these corn items make me think of fall. Besides these uses, corn is also used to make syrup, cereal, and even ethanol. According to the article I read today in the Guardian, a new 2011 Global Hunger Index report was released today that stated the U.S. needs to stop promoting the use of corn ethanol because it is raising the price of corn, and thus the availability of corn for people around the world. In 20 years, undernourishment and malnutrition conditions have improved somewhat but 26 countries around the world are still facing hunger issues; most of these countries are in sub-saharan Africa. The possibility of curtailing this world hunger is being affected by the rising prices of corn. The United States dominates the global production of corn, so they also have dominion over the price they charge for countries that have to import the corn. Since more and more corn is being used to produce ethanol, less corn is available for consumption and so the price rises.  Maximo Torero, co-author of the Global Hunger Index report said that biofuel mandates should be removed because they are increasing the volatility and price of corn. And if more biofuel policies and mandates are put into place in the future (as seems likely to happen) then this vicious cycle will continue. Overall it's hard to take a stance on this issue - corn ethanol is a biofuel that can help with environmental initiatives and cleaning up our atmosphere, but contributing to an increase in world hunger is very important too. I think a possible solution would be to try to increase the production of ethanol from other products such as switchgrass, (which we don't eat) or even algae. If we balance the production of these biofuels with the fact that we still need to keep food prices stable to aid hunger around the world, then hopefully we can benefit both sides.