Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, raised a lot of eyebrows Tuesday when he said that those who blame food price increases on the use of corn for fuel should also consider blaming the Chinese appetite. Grassley went so far as to rhetorically ask if it is legitimate to ask the Chinese to “go back and eat rice” as it is to ask the U.S. to change its policy on ethanol.As international organizations continue to blame the U.S. use of biofuels for causing the rise of wheat and rice prices, renewable fuels advocates like Grassley are pointing to evidence that the growing appetite of the developing world is the main reason for tight food supplies.

In a conference call with agriculture reporters Tuesday, Grassley was asked by Gary DiGiuseppe of the Arkansas Radio Network if he thought the federal government should roll back some of its policies that promote renewable fuels. “Well, I hope not,” Grassley replied.

Grassley said he was familiar with the reports of food riots in certain areas of the world, but he said that had little to do with corn. He said there were some reports of concerns in Mexico over corn, but “we don’t make ethanol out of rice and out of wheat. So I’m not sure that I understand, except ignorance on the part of people, about the connection between making ethanol and food,” he said. “I’m not very sympathetic to it at this point. When they start getting a connection between corn and food, then I’ll be glad to listen.

“If part of our problem is that the Chinese are going to eat meat — and you’ve got to have corn and soybeans to feed the Chinese their meat — then why isn’t it just as legitimate for the Chinese to go back and eat rice as it is for us to change our policy on corn to ethanol?”

Grassley was later asked to clarify his comment by Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register.

“Let me repeat it in the rhetorical form that I asked it,” Grassley responded. “People are pointing to the United States, right? That we ought to not use corn for ethanol. That’s after 25 years of people all over the world saying we ought to move from fossil fuels to renewable fuels. So we do what the world asked us to do. Now the world is concerned about us doing that, it might raise the price of food. Well, one of the factors that raises the price of food is the fact that the middle class of China is eating meat instead of rice. So as a matter of public policy, isn’t it just as right for Chuck Grassley to say to the Chinese, ‘You’re contributing to the shortage of food because you’re running your food through animals now so you can eat like we do in the United States.’ Why isn’t it just as reasonable for me to say ‘Why don’t you go back and eat rice instead of asking us to change what we’ve been asked to do for 25 years?’ I’m not saying that they ought to, I’m saying it’s legitimate for me to raise that as a question, just as it is legitimate for them to raise the question of us of corn to ethanol.”

To listen to Grassley’s comments, check the Iowa Independent video below.