What is this? You mean my beer costs more now?

Sure does - Ask the Germans -Barley has doubled More $$ for the beer!

by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 05.30.07

Science & Technology (alternative energy)

We’ve noted on a number of occasions that the recent worldwide biofuels push could have a range of unintended consequences, from higher food prices to greater deforestation. In Germany, recent subsidies for biofuel crops have had an effect of the price of a dietary staple: beer. According to the Associated Press, many German farmers are now growing crops like rapeseed and corn rather than barley, and that shift is being felt at the tap:

In the last two years, the price of barley has doubled to euro200 (US$271) from euro102 per ton as farmers plant more crops such as rapeseed and corn that can be turned into ethanol or bio-diesel, a fuel made from vegetable oil.As a result, the price for the key ingredient in beer — barley malt, or barley that has been allowed to germinate — has soared by more than 40 percent, to around euro385 (US$522) per ton from around euro270 a ton two years ago, according to the Bavarian Brewers’ Association.

For Germany’s beer drinkers that is scary news: their beloved beverage — often dubbed ‘liquid bread’ because it is a basic ingredient of many Germans’ daily diet — is getting more expensive. While some breweries have already raised prices, many others will follow later this year, brewers say.

The AP also notes that last year’s barley harvest was smaller than usual, so German beer drinkers are getting hit with a double whammy.

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