They don't make ethanol from oats.

Just look at oat prices. Oats are mostly fed to animals, but some are
eaten by humans of course.

http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/comm...d/oats_FO.html

Now look at the wheat futures..bottom chart and you can see wheat is
heading down.

Rice is the next chart: see the bottom chart. This is the scary one
especially since it comes with much higher production and rice is the
most important grain food for people worldwide. Since they use corn to
make ethanol and none of the other grains, and don't usually feed rice
to animals, it seems there are other factors at play with rice's price
hike. Perhaps speculation. While my 50 pound bag of oats went up $3
(retail) over the last 3 months, the problem is not here in the US,
because we are rich and will be able to withstand any grain increases.
The problem is that much of the world spends 40% or more of their
income on food and it is headed up. Since the US is the breadbasket of
the world along with Cananda and Brazil, it might mean grain farming
will soon get a boost in the US. The US will then be in the same boat
as the pharmaceuticals who offer their products for one price to one
group of people, but a different price for others. Food for oil just
might become a very attractive proposition for us, especially in trade
with Russia which needs grain and has lots of oil. dkw