EnergyWashington Week (subscription site) is reporting that:

A State Department advisory panel soon will discuss the formation of a food-crisis “brain trust,” which would assemble an unprecedented array of America’s top universities and individual experts as a policy force on agricultural issues, including agricultural-energy and biofuels policies. Informed sources say a draft white paper describing the proposal, under strict orders not to be discussed, may pave the way for a new public-private strategy on “food-versus-fuel” policymaking and direct the course of U.S. biofuels policy in the next administration.

The white paper is scheduled for a Sept. 9 review by the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), an advisory group to the State Department. Sources say the recommendation could set the stage for much wider discussions in the next administration, including private sector collaboration in addressing biofuel concerns.

Today, the AP is reporting that wholesale prices in July were:

pushed higher by rising costs for energy, motor vehicles, and other products. The increase was more than twice the 0.5 percent gain that economists expected.

That’s right, energy prices push up the costs of everything, including food.

Today, the New York Times ran a front page story about the future of the Western oil companies, and it isn’t bright.  The premise of the story, is that Western oil companies biggest claims are in diminishing locations like the North Sea, and the new opportunities are being exploited by OPEC countries — hostile to Western influences.

This is an industry in crisis,” said Amy Myers Jaffe, the associate director of Rice University’s energy program in Houston. “It’s a crisis of leadership, a crisis of strategy and a crisis of what the future looks like for the supermajors,” a term often applied to the biggest oil companies. “They are like a deer caught in headlights. They know they have to move, but they can’t decide where to go.”

What this all means, is that without more investment in biofuels, we are going to become bigger and bigger slaves to OPEC.  This is a threat to our national security, not to mention our environment.  If there ever was a reason to support biofuels, this is it.

From the AP:

The winner of the Stockholm Water Prize on Monday slammed the growing use of biofuels and urged people to eat less meat - to help cut the amount of water used in food production.

British professor John Anthony Allan said the effect of the growing use of biofuels “is too frightening to even begin to realize.”

Somebody should ask professor Allan about the water quality in Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez, or all the wonderful contributions fossil fuels have made to our environment.

The Senate Agriculture Committee held a special field hearing in Omaha, NE on biofuels and food production and apparently it went well.  According to the AP, Senators Harkin and Nelson emerged from the hearing: “with a strong sense of optimism”.

Ethanol Producer Magazine takes a lookat John McCain’s energy plan.  Apparently, McCain supports biofuels as long as the government does not provide any incentives to promote ethanol.  According to the magazine:

As for renewable energy, McCain’s plan briefly mentions wind, solar and hydropower technologies, but doesn’t detail how he plans to advance those technologies other than to state that he will work to remove federal subsidies. According to his Web site, McCain “believes in an even-handed system of tax credits that will remain in place until the market transforms sufficiently to the point where renewable energy no longer merits the taxpayers’ dollars.”

Sounds like McCain isn’t a fan of biofuels.

Attention New Yorkers, Brooke Coleman will be in WBAI this afternoon talking more about food companies and their prices!

Today at around 6:30 pm, EST, Brooke Coleman, FoodPriceTruth.org spokesman, will be on Fox Business News talking about yesterday’s report which found food companies are raising food prices to fatten their bottom line.

Be sure to tune in!

Texas Governor Rick Perry today published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal complaining that:

the diversion of our corn supply from grocery stores to gasoline pumps has caused the price of corn to spiral out of control.

He complains that the federal biofuels mandate is putting ranchers and chicken farmers (like Bo Pilgrim) out of business in Texas.  The reality of the situation, is that biofuels are not the reason corn prices are so high.

Corn prices are high, for the same reason rice prices are high and citrus prices are high. It’s because oil prices are skyrocketing, making the cost of everything go up and dragging down our entire economy.

A few weeks back we blogged a story  in the Smithsonian Magazine, about scientists examining enzymes from termites bellies to help find new, and better ways to create cellulosic ethanol.  Well, there is more coverage today of this interesting subject. 

Who would believe termites could help us end our addiction to foreign oil?