Mexicans stage tortilla protest (BBC) {ethanol raising value of corn}

[eppur_se_muova]

Tens of thousands of people have marched through Mexico City in a protest against the rising price of tortillas.

The price of the flat corn bread, the main source of calories for many poor Mexicans, recently rose by over 400%.

President Felipe Calderon has said the government will clamp down on hoarding and speculation to ease the problem.

But some blame the rise on demand for corn to make environmentally-friendly biofuels in the United States.
***
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6319093.stm

[necso]

1. There was a great line in a piece yesterday:

"Calderon stole the elections*, and now he’s stealing the tortillas**!"

*: Well, yeah.

**: What can be expected but more of the "free" market -- and more of the economically displaced? And yeah, (elements of) the Mexican elite are probably getting their cut.

...

"environmentally-friendly biofuels"

How so, when speaking of food/feed materials?

Do these (sustainably) grow and process themselves, then walk to the distribution points?

More like: they give some small return* on the energy invested in them; give more sway to unsustainable practices (and factory-farms) -- and drive food prices up.

But "environmentally-friendly" is a good marketing label.

*: Numbers vary, and geography is important -- but it's not like sunlight is the only system input (or is ever likely to be with food/feed crops).

Producing biofuels on a large scale from food/feed materials holds little promise -- except in greater profits for blood-suckers, while the people pay.

(Now, mind you, rising crop prices can be good for small farmers. But large-scale, unsustainably-farmed "industrial"-monocultures generally have a competitive edge over sustainable small-farming -- as long as the "market" considers only the dollar subset of actual costs.)