Word: cornes
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...reasons that food costs more are simple: most of what we eat is shipped great distances, and gas is spectacularly expensive. Also, demand for ethanol has caused the price of corn to spike, and thousands of processed foods contain derivatives like high-fructose corn syrup. Finally, millions of pounds of citrus froze in California this year; oranges cost nearly a third more in May than they did in May 2006. Climbing food prices sound scary, and reporters have filed a spate of alarmist stories about "soaring" grocery bills (Good Morning America) that are "way up" (CNN) and causing "sticker shock...
...simply don't have to. During the Depression, the government began subsidizing commodities like corn. Today, against all logic, the subsidies continue, and corn-derived snacks and Cokes are so cheap and convenient that, as University of Washington epidemiologist Adam Drewnowski argues, it's perfectly rational, on a dollar-per-calorie basis, to buy them. (Fresh fruits and vegetables aren't subsidized, and by nature they cost more to store and ship.) Drewnowski estimates it would cost 100 times as much to get the same amount of energy from fresh raspberries as from a typical packet of cookies...
...overall legislation would expand energy efficiency and renewable fuel incentives, end many tax breaks for oil and gas companies, increase the mandate on biofuels (such as ethanol made from corn and soybeans) from 6 billion to 36 billion gallons, authorize a carbon sequestration pilot project (which would trap carbon emissions underground) and make price gouging on oil and gas a federal crime. Ironically, it was meant to be the easy one of the two planned global warming bills. The second, expected later this summer, would set a cap on and establish reduction timetables for carbon emissions...
...that corn production has surpassed 10 billion bushels annually, competing crops, including rice and wheat, face price hikes as a result of substitution among grains. The U.S. corn crop accounts for about 40 percent of the global corn harvest, according to the Earth Policy Institute, and ethanol plants are consuming an ever-greater share. Japan may be particularly hard hit, given that it imports about 16 million tons of corn...
...Consumers often don't realize that products like diapers, shampoo, paint and crayons rely on corn. Crayons, for instance, use corn-based adhesives, while shampoos use dextrose. Because these products employ numerous ingredients, rising corn costs may have limited impact, assuming manufacturers can find adequate substitutes or can minimize their corn usage...