A veteran World Bank economist's finding that biofuels are a major cause of soaring world food prices is the latest volley in an on-going battle over controversial subsidies and incentives for gasoline and diesel made from food. The leaked draft paper by the World Bank's top agricultural economist, Don Mitchell, estimates that the growing use of food crops for fuel are to blame for as much as 75 percent of the huge rise in food prices since 2002. CGD senior fellow Kimberly Elliott cautions that this controversy should not distract us from the fact that support for the current generation of biofuels makes no sense regardless of their impact on food prices as they fail to meet their stated primary objectives: reducing dependence on imported oil and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.