After corn was singled out earlier this year for contributing to rapid price increases in food and fuel, the Bloomington-based Illinois Corn Growers Association decided to fight back.
Corn and corn-based ethanol came under attack earlier this year in a public-relations campaign spearheaded by the Washington, D.C.-based Grocery Manufacturers Association.
The GMA questioned federal policy that diverted food crops for fuel while forming Food Before Fuel, a coalition of food, consumer and environmental groups, said association spokesman Scott Openshaw.
It isn't corn or the nation's farmers the campaign opposes but federal subsidies for ethanol "that have had an unintended consequence on our economy," he said.
The multimillion-dollar anti-ethanol campaign put corn on the defensive, said Mark Lambert, spokesman for the Corn Growers. "It was the largest and most organized effort ever to spread misinformation about ethanol. We took a pounding in the East Coast media," he said.
Illinois corn farmers launched their own informational program in response. "It's been a summer-long campaign that started in June and will wrap up on Labor Day," said Lambert.
"It's forced us to spend a lot of money," he said. Lambert said advertising in Chicago and St. Louis markets alone cost $300,000.
"We've been pushing ethanol for 25 to 30 years so we're used to misinformation campaigns, but (opponents) had a battle plan this time," he said.
"(Our) message is simple. Energy costs are the real culprit behind higher food prices," said Lambert, saying the oil industry is a major partner in the recent campaign against ethanol.
(Source: Peoria Journal-Star)
