Waving an ear of corn and holding a box of Corn Flakes, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley defended corn-based fuels from a weeklong onslaught.

Grassley, who has a 750-acre farm in New Hartford, Iowa, that produces corn and soybeans, said corn-based ethanol has been “clobbered” unfairly by both Democrats and Republicans in the growing debate over biofuels and rising food and fuel costs.

“I hope we can educate the American people about ethanol being needed, ethanol not being the problem and ethanol contributing to the total supply of energy we have,” Grassley said. “We’re actually helping, not hurting.”

Congressional calls have rapidly increased this week for revisiting the Renewable Fuels Standard that Congress mandated late last year. This year’s RFS calls for 9 billion gallons of ethanol to be mixed into the nation’s fuel supply, meaning as much as a third of the U.S. corn crop could go toward fuel.

By requiring more ethanol to be produced from corn sources, many ethanol critics believe the result has been a spike in fuel prices that has contributed to the global food crisis.

Grassley reluctantly conceded to reporters that the issue should be explored, but insisted repeatedly that corn farmers aren’t to blame for the situation. He also distributed an op-ed defending ethanol, calling the biofuel “America’s best domestic, homegrown, renewable alternative to foreign petroleum.”

“Blaming ethanol as the bad guy behind high gas and grocery bills and world food shortages could result in long-term damage,” Grassley said. “If the argument gains traction, it could impede the growth and development of other domestic alternative fuels like cellulosic ethanol that are needed to displace foreign petroleum and provide U.S. consumers with viable alternatives and an energy safety net.”

Grassley and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) are the only two active farmers in the Senate.