Ethanol Is Largest Use for Corn

Via Ritholtz, the Washington Examiner:

Amid all the talk of budgets, tax laws, and debt last week, one telling nugget of government data went unnoticed: The Agriculture Department last week estimated that this year, for the first time ever, America will use more corn for ethanol than for any other purpose. Congressmen of both parties are putting on a show of rolling back federal subsidies for this alcohol fuel, but these proposals have the backing of the ethanol industry because they would actually increase taxpayer support for ethanol.
Last week, the USDA published its regular report "World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates," which calculates that in the current corn "marketing year" (September 2010, through the end of August 2011), 11.43 billion bushels of corn will be consumed in the United States. As usual, a small fraction will be used for food or seed: 1.4 billion bushels, or 12.1 percent of the total. Also, as usual, a sizable chunk will be fed to farm animals: 5 billion bushels, or 43.7 percent. But for the first time, the largest chunk will be turned into ethanol: 5.1 billion bushels, or 44.2 percent.
So, the single biggest use of corn in the United States is now highway driving.
Increasingly, Americans see ethanol as a heavily subsidized corporate welfare boondoggle. That realization creates pressure on Congress to reform the ethanol subsidies. A bipartisan coalition has produced a plan that pretends to scale back those subsidies.

The Examiner goes on to say that the bill cutting subsidies doesn't actually do that.  I'm not surprised.  This is a boondoggle which has lasted too long.  Hopefully they will really phase out the tax credit.