I came across what I thought was an interesting article recently. “Debunking Biofuels: Do They Really Raise Food Prices?” was published originally on Investopedia and then republished on MSN Money.

I was especially impressed with the data included from sources like the Congressional Budget Office, the American Enterprise Institute and USDA. It pulled together some good information on an issue that just keeps coming up over and over again, even after multiple sources came out saying it was not true. But don’t take my word for it, read it yourself and see what you think.

I did some poking around and located the author, Melissa Parietti, who graduated with a degree in business administration in 2013. I contacted her through LinkedIn and she agreed to answer a few questions for my blog.

When Parietti writes a freelance article for Investopedia, like this one, she selects from a variety of topics. “I wasn't entirely familiar with biofuels prior to my writing the article,” she said, “but as I completed research I discovered I was already familiar with some of the topics. I chose the biofuels article from other articles because the idea that they raise food prices was interesting to me and I wanted to know if this was another case of media sensationalism or if there was merit to the claims.”

The title of the piece, “Debunking Biofuels: Do They Really Raise Food Prices?” was already supplied. So that’s how she structured the article, Parietti said, trying to make sure she remained unbiased and that both sides were represented. “As I researched, though, I found a lot of holes in the information provided by those who were saying biofuels would increase food prices,” she said. “The language was often unspecific and vague. There was no evidence, no investigation and backing.”

She also shared some of her thoughts on the renewable fuel standard, which she called an eco-friendly measure. “The burning of crude-oil gasoline produces an incredible amount of energy and its use in cars is not the most efficient way of depleting such a precious resource,” she said. “I hope that one day the government makes future efforts toward improving efficiency standards in fuel. The machinery and related processes that require the most energy deserve crude-oil derivatives. As long as ethanol is viable an energy source and its further production doesn't cause credible upsets, then its use should be more pervasive.”