The Mexican tortilla producer is angry.

The corn it uses to make its tortillas is getting more expensive because of the next big thing in alternative energy – ethanol.

The crop is being used as feed stock for producing biofuel in Brazil and the United States, more so than sugarcane and palm oil.

(Malaysia has been using and further exploring the latter as an alternative fuel source.)

The Mexican tortilla maker is angry, but so are farmers who feed their livestock corn.

And soon, it might be you – the consumer – who will bear the brunt of it all.

Because you will have to pay more for fuel in the future AND more for your groceries and food.

As TIME magazine puts it, “everyone may have to decide between filling their tanks or their larders”.

So here's a solution: big-time ethanol producers should consider using palm oil and sugarcane as alternatives to corn.

Here's why:

First, according to TIME, “Brazilian biofuel distilled from sugarcane is a third cheaper than the stuff the farmers up north brew”.

Second, Cornell University agricultural scientist David Pimentel says “about 70% more energy is required to produce ethanol (from grain) than the energy that actually is in ethanol.”

Third, corn as a feed stock costs more than the production of ethanol. According to Pimental's analysis, planting, growing and harvesting an acre of corn (7,110 pounds) requires about 140 gallons of fossil fuels and costs US$347 per acre. So even before the corn is converted into ethanol, the feedstock alone costs US$1.05 per gallon of ethanol.

While energy companies are hard-pressed to find a replacement for fossil fuel, they should also consider how their current efforts would create a butterfly effect on consumers and other businesses globally.

In this case, perhaps agricultural by-products could be the way to go.

Otherwise, again, we may have to choose between filling up our tanks (or paying more for public transport because of higher fuel prices) or giving in to our appetites.

Serene Lim