Statement of Bruce A. Babcock before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs

In a May 7 hearing on fuel subsidies and their impact on food prices called by the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, Bruce Babcock, professor of economics and director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University, told senators that changes in federal biofuels policies now will not have a dramatic effect on food prices in the short term. And in the longer run, corn and food prices will be determined largely by the price of crude oil.

Read Dr. Babcock's full oral statement, available at www.card.iastate.edu/products/presentations/files/babcockoralstatementforposting.05-07-08.senatecommittee.pdf.

(Released May 2008)