Hamburgers and hot dogs aren't the only things being devoured at Memorial Day celebrations this year. So are the food budgets of backyard barbecue hosts and hostesses.

According to April's Consumer Price Index and U.S. Department of Agriculture data, beef and pork prices are at record high levels. The average retail price of all fresh beef is 10.6 percent higher than one year ago; pork prices are 15.7 percent higher.

The overall food at home index has risen 3.9 percent, as well, with all major grocery store food groups increasing over the period.

As a result, some economists predict that the total bill for the traditional Memorial Day cookout will cost 29 percent more this year. Add that to the fact that Californians are paying $4.04 on average for a gallon of gas, one of the highest prices in the country, and that makes for one expensive family get-together.

While many variables contribute to the price of any food item, the rising cost of corn due to ethanol production is one fundamental factor that is driving up not only meat and poultry prices, but other food prices as well.

Is it the only factor? No.

But, unlike the weather, burning our food and feed in our gas tanks is one factor that we can control.

A bill recently introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Ethanol Subsidy and Tariff Repeal Act, will help control it.

California is perhaps better known for its grapes and almonds than its corn crop, so many residents may not be familiar with our government's policy on ethanol.

Currently, fuel blenders are required under a government mandate to combine a certain amount of eligible "biofuels" into the gasoline they sell. They rely almost exclusively on ethanol derived from corn.

This mandate ensures a market for ethanol, whether consumers want it or not. In addition, blenders receive a tax credit, at the expense of the American taxpayer, of 45 cents per gallon of ethanol they produce. This year the tax credit will cost taxpayers $6 billion.

Topping off the trifecta of government protection is a tariff on imported ethanol that shelters U.S. ethanol from global competition.

What does all of this add up to? Forty percent of all corn grown in the United States ends up in our gas tanks. As a result, corn supplies are at their lowest levels in 15 years, pushing prices to near record levels, even though we are coming off one of the largest corn crops in history.

Corn for May delivery matched a record high of $7.65 a bushel. Corn was $3.57 a bushel in May 2010. These numbers could soon go even higher if our expected corn yield is significantly reduced due to flooding in the Midwest.

The unintended effects of this policy continue to put pressure on farmers and ranchers who rely on corn as a major feed source for cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys.

In California, more than 523,300 jobs directly and indirectly depend on the meat and poultry industry, which is responsible for $75.8 billion in economic output - the most of any state other than Texas.

But unable to bear the increased input costs due, in large part, to artificially high corn prices, farmers are reducing herds are being reduced, shrinking the meat supply, and increasing prices for meat processors and ultimately consumers.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that at least 10 percent of the rise in domestic food prices can be credited to ethanol alone. In other words, Californians and the rest of America are paying twice for the production of corn ethanol: once in the form of a tax subsidy and then again in the grocery bill. And Californians can ill afford these higher prices considering the state has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, at 11.9 percent.

An argument against corn-based ethanol is not an argument against the goals of achieving alternative fuels and energy independence. And it certainly isn't an argument against corn farmers, who have simply been responding to corn's current economic climate.

It's an argument for proposals like Sen. Feinstein's, which would end the costly and unnecessary protection and subsidization of converting corn into fuel, save taxpayers billions of dollars and help ease one factor that's causing the spike in food prices.

We need a diverse alternative energy policy that doesn't pit food vs. fuel and doesn't leave Californians grilled with higher food prices.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

J. Patrick Boyle is president and CEO, American Meat Institute, Washington, D.C.

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