Yesterday, U.S. Senator Charles Grassley sent a letter to C. Manly Molpus, Scott Faber’s boss at GMA, demanding that food companies lower their prices in response to falling commodities.  Grassley took issue with some of Faber’s comments, especially his public admission that anti-ethanol campaign was launched by GMA to “protect the bottom line of grocery manufacturers and processors.”

It’s not too often that US Senators call out lobbyists (to their new bosses), by name, especially for saying something so ill-advised.

Dow Jones is reporting that Nestle:

won’t likely be forced to raise prices on most of its brands even as underlying raw material costs are rising, according to Paul Polman, vice president in charge of Nestle in the Americas.

“Our strategy is to increase prices for our products by adding value and not because of commodity costs,” Polman said Friday at a press event with Brazilian newspapers.

Then why the Smear Campaign Against Ethanol?

Frances Cerra Whittelsey, an author and journalist who teaches at Hofstra University, today published this piece in The Nation which clearly explains why the food vs fuel debate is a false one.  He takes the Grocery Manufacturer’s smear campaign head on:

“While concern about rising food prices is certainly justified, for grocery manufacturers the argument is also self-serving. Food manufacturers make their profits not on raw vegetables or commodities like cooking oil but on processed foods, and they want to direct public anger about food price inflation away from themselves. Packaging, processing, advertising, transportation and profits account for most of the price of processed foods, and the surging price of oil figures heavily in that mix. The cost of corn, even as the major ingredient in a food like corn flakes, accounts for a tiny fraction of the final price.”

Kudos Frances.

Andre Shoumatoff penned an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune which is critical of the attempts by biofuel’s opponents to derail the industry.  Shoumatoff makes some very good points and we appreciate the support out West.

According to the paper:

Shoumatoff manages Biodiesel Motor Projects, a Utah consulting firm on biodiesel production and environmentally friendly automotive projects. Shoumatoff also helped develop some of the early Utah biodiesel infrastructure.

The three largest biofuels trade associations in the US, Europe and Brazil have sent a letter to the head of OPEC accusing OPEC of “misleading” the world about biofuels.  According to this report by The Guardian (UK), the three organizations said:

“‘Since you, as head of Opec, provide no explanation for what in our view constitutes a self-serving and misleading statement that goes counter to any independent analysis of the fuels market today, one can only conclude that Opec views competition with biofuels as a direct threat,’says the letter signed by the European Bioethanol Fuel Association, the Renewable Fuels Association in the US, the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association and the Brazilian sugar-cane producers of Unica.”

Give ‘em Hell!