Kansas families are paying more for food than ever before.

There is a popular misconception that ethanol is to blame -- a misconception that was created and promoted through a political attack campaign in Washington.

Recently, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told his Senate colleagues that "this anti-ethanol campaign is not a coincidence. It turns out that a $300,000, six-month retainer of a Beltway public relations firm is behind the negative campaign, hired by the Grocery Manufacturers Association."

With these attacks exposed, it is time to set the record straight: Ethanol is not to blame for rising food costs.

First and foremost, the corn used for ethanol is not the same corn that people eat.

Second, the price of corn has only a minimal impact on the grocery price of food. The best example is cornflakes. Less than 5 percent of its price tag reflects the cost of corn -- that's less than a nickel of every dollar. The remaining 95 percent is due in large part to packaging, shipping and marketing.

There are two reasons food costs are going up. First is the same reason all costs are going up -- gas prices are out of control.

It takes gasoline and diesel to farm and transport crops.

It takes petroleum products -- plastic -- to package food.

When oil goes up, everything goes up.

The second reason food prices are up is because of global demand. Global food prices are up 43 percent since 2007 -- growing demand in emerging markets accounts for nearly 18 percent of the increase and weather-related disasters in Australia, China and many Eastern European countries have had a tremendous impact.

Wheat (up 146 percent since 2007) and rice (up 29 percent since 2007) account for much of the world's food consumption of grains -- leading to increased US exports of rice due to tight exportable supplies across Asia, strong global demand, and recently announced export bans or restrictions in several key rice-producing nations.

If anything, ethanol helps keep costs down.

Ethanol makes up a portion of this nation's fuel. If we were to suddenly stop making ethanol, gas prices could increase by as much as 35 cents.

Could ethanol be more efficient? Absolutely, and I'm proud to say that Kansas is at the forefront of developing this technology.

New technology will enable Kansas ethanol plants to produce food, fuel and feed.

And Kansas is home to the most significant breakthrough in ethanol technology to date: Cellulosic ethanol. This ethanol won't be made from corn, but from things like switchgrass, corn stover, wheat straw and forage sorghums.

Ethanol is here to stay and this is good news for all of us.

Mark Parkinson is lieutenant governor of Kansas.