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Like many contentious issues, ethanol use has its backers and detractors. Now that much of the U.S. corn crop has withered, calls to reduce the amount of the U.S. corn going for biofuel production have increased, and the federally mandated Renewable Fuels Standard, which requires 32 billion gallons of biofuel to be mixed into gasoline by the end of next year, is under attack.

Whether or not the mandate is waived will affect food inflation, because corn is more economically important as a food commodity than as an energy one. By how much food prices are affected by converting corn into fuel is a matter of debate, but with drought-related yields expected to be about 14 percent lower this year, it is difficult to imagine a lower supply isn't going to have some kind of effect on food prices. At the same time, the ethanol industry has expanded, thanks largely to subsidies that ended last year, and an entire energy industry has been built around it. That means it has economic clout and political backers just like any other large industry.

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