Increased production and use of ethanol from corn are threatening to disrupt the worldwide food system, according to a report released by the Earth Policy Institute in Washington on January 4. California - where state agencies are drawing up plans to use more biofuels - has four operating ethanol facilities and more on the drawing boards. Nationally, ethanol plants already in production, slated for construction, or expanding capacity will use half of the U.S. corn harvest in 2008, said Lester Brown, institute president, in releasing the report. The U.S. accounts for 40 percent of the world's annual corn harvest. "We're entering a new world in which the price of grain is moving upward to its oil equivalent price," Brown said. As a result, price increases will ripple through the world food system over the next two years, potentially putting basic staples beyond the reach of 2 billion poor people and sparking food riots in many nations. Brown urged a national moratorium on building more ethanol plants until the policy implications of the rapid increase in the use of corn to make ethanol are fully understood and debated. He also urged expanded government support for developing cellulosic ethanol technology - a way to create biofuels from agricultural waste and non-food plants. - William J. Kelly