The “food versus fuel” issue is one of rhetoric, not reality, according to an American Farm Bureau Federation economic report released in July.

Corn demand to make ethanol has little to do with the recent rise in food prices, said the organization, instead weather and high energy costs are more to blame.

AFBF said that nearly all the evidence points to factors other than ethanol demand, including an early freeze that zapped fruits and vegetables, low world supplies of wheat, milk producers’ cutting back on production in response to last year’s low prices and the rising cost of energy.