Election year tradition calls for at least one journalist to quiz a major candidate on the price of milk and a dozen eggs, just to prove they can relate to the concerns of the common voter. But savvy muckrakers might raise a more pressing issue in 2008 by popping a question on the price of corn.

While many might be quick to blame rising interest in biofuels, those critics might find better answers in the cars they drive and food they eat. Massive rainfall has left the most productive region of the the United States stricken with floods. And more than one scientific source attributes increased severity of rainfall and drought to global warming.

Then there’s the question of agriculture: as developing countries become more prosperous, they demand meals with more meat produced on corn-feed intensive CAFOs, or confined animal feeding operations, which are spreading worldwide, steadly increasing pressure on a diminished corn supply.

So rather than blaming the green industry for the cost hike, biofuel critics ought to be buying cleaner vehicles and eating more sustainable foods, if they want to see the corn price fall.