Is government driving up food prices?

• Position: YOUR LIFE

"Going green," driving hybrid cars, and looking for alternative energy sources have been part of the national conversation for the past several years. As oil prices climbed to their 2008 peaks, ethanol production multiplied exponentially. Many claim that the demand for--and production of--ethanol has a direct effect on feed prices for hogs and cattle, but others say ethanol consumption has almost no effect on other users. Analysts at the University of Missouri, Columbia, maintain that the effect is neither catastrophic nor negligible, and that ethanol prices are based on government policies and the cost of oil.

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"We're still producing a lot more ethanol than we were one year ago," relates Pat Westhoff, codirector of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute. "However, we wouldn't be making this much ethanol if it were not for government policies, such as tax credits and mandates requiring a certain amount of ethanol at the...