By inadvertently pointing out that farmers have a 19% gross profit margin in addition to all the subsidies (via email).

WASHINGTON — Senator Chuck Grassley today encouraged Iowans who work for major food manufacturers to make their voices heard in opposition to a national smear campaign against ethanol.

“A national association employing high-priced Washington, DC, spin doctors has launched a misleading and disingenuous assault on ethanol,” Grassley said. “The facts are that biofuels are a very small factor in rising grocery costs and just 19 cents of every food dollar spent by consumers goes to farmers. I’m calling on companies who are members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association to protest the trade association’s target and tactics. Every employee of these member companies can join in. We’ve got to speak truth to power and fight back against this smear campaign.”

Personally, I wouldn’t care if every single car in this country ran on ethanol.  I’ve got nothing against the fuel itself.  But what drives me nuts is the insistence by people like Senator Grassley that ethanol is the future, and if we don’t subsidize/mandate it endlessly we’re going to be in trouble.

As far as I’m concerned, if ethanol can’t sustain itself in an open energy market without subsidies then it isn’t the right fuel for America.  Period.  And while I’m willing to listen to arguments about ethanol’s limited role in food prices, I find them unconvincing.  Fuel crops are diverting food away from grocery markets and using up land that could be used for food crops.  The mandates and subsidies for ethanol have made the market inflexible, and that’s hurting everybody.