The U.S. corn (maize) crop is enormous. But about a third of it doesn't go to cereal or cows — instead, it helps run cars. To boost American's use of renewable fuels, the federal government subsidizes corn-based ethanol.

This has the American meat and dairy industries up in arms over the high cost of their main feed. The rise of ethanol has pitted livestock producers against the oil industry.

"The prices of beef and pork have definitely gone up the last few months," said Chris Stelzer, a chef in Ames, Iowa. "Tenderloin's gone up about two dollars in the past month or two — a pound — and pork's gone up about a dollar or so."

According to the United States Department of Agriculture data, meat now costs as much as 12 percent more than last year. The reason for this, said economics professor Bruce Babcock, of Iowa State University, is that ethanol plants increase the demand for corn, thus driving up the prices for other buyers — like livestock producers.

The U.S. government required that Americans use about 13 billion gallons of ethanol in 2010. In addition, to further boost using corn to fuel cars, Congress created subsidies paying gasoline blenders for every gallon they blend with ethanol.

The American Meat Institute's J. Patrick Boyle said the current system is unfair, because the ethanol industry is benefiting from a trifecta of government subsidies.

And economist Babcock said the mere fact that ethanol comprises about 8 percent of fuel consumed in the United States has already changed the ebb and flow of the commodity market behind food.

"We've now hitched the price of corn, inextricably linked the price of corn, to the price of crude oil, and I think we can't turn the clock back, that's the way it is."

With corn prices more closely tied to oil prices, when the price of gas goes up, it raises the demand for ethanol — and that means consumers will feel it in two places: at the gas pump and on the dinner table.

(Source: Fuel Vs Food: Ethanol Helps Boost The Price Of Meat [NPR])