There’s a cornflakes crisis just round the corner, and it’s to do with the plant they’re made from – maize. It’s used for more than cereals and is in custard, cornflour, popcorn, cooking oil, sweetcorn, and corn on the cob in our cupboards – it’s also the source of fructose syrup, the sweetener that makes Americans fat and relegates sugar to second best.

That’s not all, as it’s the filler in many dog foods, is distilled to produce Bourbon whiskey, and provides much of the meat we eat as many animals are fattened on the green, unripe plant. In Germany it ends up in anaerobic digesters to produce gas, and it’s the staple diet of much of southern Africa in the form of mealies porridge.

It’s a very significant foodstuff and as the world population is already seven billion, and rising, it’s important that the supply meets the demand, and therein lies the problem because the US produces almost half the world maize crop.

The Corn Belt in the United States is suffering. A combination of the hottest July in living memory and one of the longest droughts on record has threatened the maize crop and the livelihood of thousands. Production is down by around a third, livestock farmers are struggling and less maize is available for the wider world market.

Already the price has risen strongly, forcing up food prices, and it’s now over eight dollars a bushel, compared with two just six years ago. While farming problems are to be expected with increased climate variability, due to climate change, there is another factor involved and that’s only partially related to the climate.

The US wants to increase its fuel security by reducing dependence on politically-sensitive parts of the globe, and they have decided biofuel is the answer. By legislating for every gallon of petrol to be ten per cent ethanol, made from maize, they import less oil. Coincidentally, it also reduces CO2 emissions, as the plants involved are just recycling the carbon dioxide in the air and not adding more from the fossil past. However, smaller cars would produce the same result.

The maize farmers love the extra income as 40 per cent of their crop is used to produce ethanol, but their livestock colleagues are up in arms. Also world maize prices have trebled to the dismay of those in the developing countries who normally spend up to half their income on food.

Using farmland to put fuel in cars, often owned by the better-off, rather than food in the stomachs of the billion or so who go hungry is not morally acceptable. It’s just wrong.

We should be very cautious about biofuels.