An agricultural economist and founder of a Washington-based environmental think tank said that ethanol production will consume much more corn than the government has estimated and could result in shortages of corn for livestock feed, driving up production costs and causing higher food prices. He said rapid ethanol industry expansion has caused data to fall behind developments in the field. He warned that nearly twice as much corn as the government has estimated will be needed from the 2008 harvest to feed the ethanol plants that will be online by then.

The demand for corn by ethanol plants will result in higher prices for food staples such as milk, eggs, meat and cheese.

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