Ethanol boom affects other industries, could raise food prices

The next two years will be tough for the pork, chicken and dairy industries as the corn they use for feed is increasingly diverted to ethanol production, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns said April 9.

“I think the next couple of years will have its challenges,” Johanns said in an interview with The Associated Press. “They have been challenged already.”

The ethanol boom means consumers will be paying more for their meat and dairy products, say representatives of those industries, though plans to increase corn acres could ease some of that pain.

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