During my time in academia; Ph.D. student -> post doc -> professor, I always felt that women made better lab managers than men - so I think the people sampled in this study are completely wrong. At the risk of sounding like I'm stereotyping, the female managers tended to balance multiple concurrent projects better and kept the environment more harmonious and inclusive. The only times I saw issues with this type of situation was when it was a women-only environment. The most productive labs I witnessed, irregardless of the gender of the PI, had a female lab manager and a balance of female and male employees/students. I had lab mangers of both genders and paid them based on their level of experience as dictated by the university HR.

It is not just corn prices that have increased as a result of ethanol production, soybeans and wheat are WAY up too. I should know, I live in South Dakota where they represent most of our crop production and much of our state's GDP. I've even heard rumors that soybean prices are being artificially kept high to discourage a massive decline in acreage in the region.

There is little doubt that farming will change substantially over the next 10 years in the eastern U.S. as a result of biofuel production. Unfortunately, not all of the changes will be beneficial to farming communities or the environment.