WE don't eat much field corn directly... however COWS and CHICKENS DO! We also eat a great deal of items containing High Fructose Corn Syrup and Corn Syrup.... All of those come from Field Corn. So just counting the corn meal content of a box of corn flakes isn't the whole story.... Eggs, chicken, beef, almost all sweetened products, etc. It does have an effect on price because so much of it is being diverted....if it wasn't driving the price up why are farmers getting more for it? It'd be nice to think they can "pass the cost of fertilizer and gas" on to their customers... but my family is a bunch of farmers and I've got to say... they've never been able to pass increased costs on before... they've had to live with it. This time however the price is going up because demand is up. It has an effect on your food costs, the question is how much...

In the end I'd have to agree that the larger majority of the cost of food that has increased probably has more to do with oil prices than anything else. Transport of the goods and raw materials consumes alot of energy...