North America's love affair with ethanol, which was originally blamed for soaring corn prices, may also be responsible for price hikes in global food markets, experts say.

Prices in the grocery market aisles, from milk to meat, are higher this year in the United States.

Some experts blame the price hike on a California cold snap, but others say the increase is a result of demand for corn to make the popular biofuel ethanol, which is hailed as an alternative to gasoline.

Agricultural consultant Ralph Ashmead believes Canada's days of cheap food are numbered because:

• Farmers who rely on corn to feed their livestock are feeling the pressure of inflated corn prices.
• Farmers who grow crops are responding to the demand for crops that can be used to produce biofuels.

"More and more crop land will be devoted to canolas, and wheats and things, so there will be less land for the barley and things that are often substraights for the livestock industry," Ashmead told CTV News from Calgary.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association in the U.S., ethanol production has doubled in the past three years, reaching nearly five billion gallons in 2006. U.S. ethanol production is again expected to double in two years.

The U.S. currently has 113 ethanol plants operating and 78 more are under construction.

The price of a bushel of corn has doubled since last year, going from about US$2 to $4 a bushel, and experts believe the price hike is having an effect both north and south of U.S. borders.

In Mexico, where corn-based food products like the tortilla are a staple, citizens have rioted because they say food is becoming unaffordable. The Mexican government has been forced to provide relief.

"We won't tolerate speculators or monopolists," Mexican president Felipe Calderon said in a February speech. "We will apply the law with firmness and punish those who take advantage of the people's needs."

Food vs. fuel?

However, some ethanol advocates believe the hike in Canadian food prices will be a small price to pay compared to the benefits of ethanol production.

"You could double the price of corn in your Corn Flakes and they would go up seven cents," Kory Teneycke, a spokesperson from the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, told CTV News from Toronto.

Teneycke argues the high price of gasoline compared to the lower cost of ethanol is actually causing market prices to decrease.

"Ethanol sells for less today than gasoline does, so if you are making fuel that is less expensive than petroleum-based fuels then that's actually having an anti-inflationary affect on the marketplace," Teneycke said.

The federal government is aggressively promoting to Canadian farmers the benefits of producing crops that make ethanol.

This year's federal budget set aside $2 billion over seven years for renewable fuels, including $1.5 billion in subsidies for ethanol producers.

With a report from CTV's Sarah Galashan and files from The Associated Press