The Barometer Online

Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Cory Reed Oregon State Agriculture and Resource Economics professor JunJie Wu speaks at the Rising Food and Energy Prices Conference on Thursday. The conference featured experts from around the nation.

On Thursday, economists from across the nation gathered in the CH2M Hill OSU Alumni Center for a conference addressing the rising cost of food and energy in the United States.

The conference, titled "Rising Food and Energy Prices: U.S. Food Policy at a Crossroads," was an informative conference aimed at educating the public on the undeniable link between food and energy prices. Presenters sought to answer questions such as why prices jumped so high over the past 12 months and whether or not energy prices will continue to rise.

As a professor in agricultural and resource economics at OSU, Greg Perry led the conference as the Chair of the Organizing Committee.

"We tried to bring in the best economists that we could find in the country that could speak to these issues and the different ramifications," Perry said.

The conference featured specialists in a variety of fields such as biofuels, trade, energy prices, rural communities and the environment.

One of the primary topics at the conference focused on the role that biofuel plays in the relationship between food and energy. Because biofuels use corn to create energy, they highlight the unavoidable link between food and energy.

Corn is used to make ethanol, which in turn is used to make biofuel energy. As corn prices rise, farmers appeal to the demand and produce more corn and fewer other crops, such as wheat. The price of wheat then goes up as it is in short supply and the demand is still high.

Furthermore, corn is often used as livestock feed. High corn prices make raising livestock more expensive and in turn increase the prices of meat, dairy and eggs. "It has a ripple effect," Perry said. "You see this all the way through the agricultural economy."

Experts from Iowa, Ohio, Texas, Washington D.C. and New York presented at the conference and discussed the effects that biofuels will have on U.S. food markets, energy markets, labor markets, rural American communities, and agricultural systems.

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