Ingredients for Week 2
Recipe for Hope: Week 2
Ingredient for Despair: Competition between food and fuel
As fuel prices spiral upwards, people are searching for alternative sources of energy to decrease reliance on foreign oil. Biofuels, including corn-based ethanol, appear promising and create new opportunities for economic development in rural parts of the United States. But there are costs for hungry people.
Corn is a staple food for many poor people. The United States is the world’s largest exporter of corn. But now U.S. farmers are diverting more crops to ethanol production. With less corn available for export, prices are rising—up more than 50 percent since last year—and out of reach of hungry and poor people in developing countries.
For more on this, read David Beckmann’s recent testimony to Congress. 
Ingredients for Hope: Our Recipe for Hope has two components—something you can do; and something you can say to our nation’s leaders.
- Participate in a phone briefing on May 21 at 2 pm (Eastern Time) with Bread for the World President David Beckmann and Bread for the World Institute Director Asma Lateef. RSVP for call-in details.
- Write to Congress:
Urge your members of Congress to reexamine U.S. policies that spur the conversion of food into fuel, especially corn into ethanol, and the impact on hungry people. |
Return to the Recipe for Hope campaign headquarters
