Maize vs. Sugarcane

Here is a little post from the back pages of a recent issue of The Economist. Perverse subsidies suck! U.S. politicians could never convince me that American agriculture currently represents free trade. Here's the article:

In America it is cheaper to make fuel ethanol from maize because of the high domestic price of sugar. The Agriculture Department forecasts that America will use 34% more maize in ethanol production next season, some 20% of the harvest. Prices, up by a fifth this year, look set to rise further.