Good news: "The food crisis is over."

We sent a reporter to the first day of the Southeast Bioenergy Conference yesterday and Gov. Sonny Perdue called biofuels "a cornerstone of the new Georgia."

But it was the biofuel supporters comments on corn ethanol's effect on food prices worldwide that I found most interesting:

(Gale Buchanan, a U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary,) said although an estimated 30 percent of U.S. corn is now being used for fuel production, the high cost of oil for transporting food and other factors are the real culprits for high food prices. He noted that cellulosic ethanol, which uses grasses and woody feedstocks instead of food crops, is a good alternative in the future once the technology is better developed.

"But (corn ethanol) is the thing we can do now," he said. "I think we can produce what we need. I don't let it bother me."

A panel later addressed "misperceptions of ethanol," including the food question. Harry Baumes, associate director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Energy Policy & New Uses, said the problem of high corn prices is correcting itself as world growth slows, declaring, "The food crisis is over."

Food scarcity is indeed self correcting. But I doubt Mr. Baumes wants it to self correct at his house.

The rest of the article is much happier. There's a lot of hope for cellulistic ethanol, and Georgia will be at the forefront of the technology.