CHICAGO - Rising U.S. food prices will outpace the general inflation rate for at least the next two years, and one of the main culprits is the steep climb in corn prices.

Corn prices rose above $4 a bushel in January and have doubled over the past two years ... due to surging demand from the U.S. ethanol industry. [This] has raised costs by varying degrees for livestock and poultry producers and food makers in general, costs which consumers have only begun to realize.

"Food inflation, basically, in January and February is just kicking up a little bit above the general inflation rate. Our anticipation is that we are going to see that for all of 2007," said Purdue University agricultural economist Chris Hurt.

The price of meat is set to rise in America as the nation’s helter-skelter dash to convert corn into road fuel begins to take its toll on the supply of food.

The US Department of Agriculture has said that meat supply will fall this year because of the high cost of feed. Output of beef, pork and chicken is expected to decline by one billion pounds as farmers react to the soaring cost of feeding their livestock.

The biofuel revolution’s unpleasant negative consequence was first felt south of Rio Grande, when the escalating price of corn affected a food staple. Mexico’s tortilla inflation crisis is spreading north to the heartland of rib-eye steak and chicken wings.

In Washington, the International Monetary Fund added its warning about the consequences of a mass conversion of food crops into fuel. Vast US government subsidies for the production of ethanol, used as a petrol additive in America, has encouraged the expansion of ethanol distilleries.

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Corn prices have soared this season on the ethanol craze, but while analysts are cautious at the higher levels, few expect corn to follow in sugar's footsteps by suffering a sharp correction. ...

Chicago Board of Trade nearby corn futures shot up to a 10-and-a-half year high of $4.37 a bushel in February. And in response, U.S. farmers say they intend to plant 15.5% more corn this year, a 44-year high of 90.5 million acres.

Stephen Previs, a London-based analyst with investment bank Jefferies International Ltd., says corn and sugar are "different animals." While he is bearish on sugar, he is still bullish on corn due to growing food demand in emerging markets such as China. Ethanol's influence on corn is "like throwing gasoline on a campfire," he said.

Previs warns the U.S. needs near-perfect weather to grow the corn it needs to meet food and fuel demand but seeding is starting later than average due to wet and cold weather, which lowers production potential. CBOT corn could jump to $6/bushel to $7/bushel if there is a weather problem in the U.S. this summer, Previs said.

U.S. farmers plan to switch to corn at the expense of soybeans and cotton, leading to smaller supplies of those commodities. And higher corn prices are having a spillover effect on beef and pork values due to higher feeding costs.