As comedian Jimmy Durante used to say “Wot a revoltin’ development dis is!”

The greens and lots of others call for more ethanol, more ethanol. They have pressured politicians to grant subsidies to companies that produce it. And to pay people to buy cars that run on ethanol.

Meanwhile, distillers are building ethanol plants. They offer top dollar to farmers to grow and deliver the corn to feed the ethanol plants. And farmers have dramatically increased their corn plantings.

Wunnerful, wunnerful? Nope. Revoltin’.

First, the prices for corn have shot upward. Forcing impoverished Mexicans to pay more for their most basic food. (Not to mention our foods.) Second, we are burning huge quantities of fuel to produce the corn. Huge. So our net gains are small. Third, other crop prices have also shot upward. Because farmers are growing less of those crops. Because they replaced them with corn plantings. Life is complicated, ain’t it?

Next, the farmers have to fertilize the corn. If you are so green you believe farmers can get huge yields without fertilizer, I have to ask you to trust me on this.

A lot of corn growers also have to dump thousands of gallons of water on every acre of corn they grow. And the intensive systems they use erode the soil.