While corn and other crop prices increased from 2006 to 2007, there is no shortage of food crops. The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service says U.S. farmers planted 92.9 million acres of corn in 2007 (NASS: Acreage), with average yield expected to be 153 bushels per acre (NASS: Crop Production). USDA says 3.4 billion bushels, roughly 26 percent of the expected harvest, will be converted to approximately 9.3 billion gallons of ethanol, leaving more than 9 billion bushels for food, feed and export markets, which would easily meet or exceed 2006 demand from these markets.
More, technological progress – particularly in biotechnology – can help meet the energy and food needs of growing populations throughout the world.
Agricultural productivity has grown steadily at a rate of 1.8 percent over the past 35 years, according to the USDA. Eighty percent of this increase in productivity has come from higher per acre crop yields, thanks in large part to biotechnology.
And biotech enhancements to seeds that allow sustainable production of crops promise continued improvements in crop yields. The record yield for 2006 was 347 bushels per acre, according to the NCGA (NCGA 2006 Corn Yield Contest National Winners). An increase of 1.8 bushels of corn per acre produces an additional 154 million bushels, which can be used to produce 430 million gallons of ethanol.