CFP:
Greetings to you, with my hope that you are doing well! According to public records, most of you are. That’s good!
The whole U.S. produces somewhere around 15 billion bushels (BB) of corn a year at a rate of ca. 145 bushels per acre. Roughly, that’s 1/3 of the entire world production. Nearly 1/3 of the entire U.S. production comes from Iowa (2.7 BB), Illinois (2.3 BB), Nebraska (1.7 BB), Minnesota (1.5 BB), and Indiana (0.9 BB). Of that bountiful harvest, in the order of 25% are being converted via fermentation and distillation into ethanol, resulting in ~2.9 gallons of ethanol per bushel of corn.
This “fuel” part of the corn consumption is essentially mandated by the (IMHO, entirely misguided) “Renewable Fuels Standards” (RFS) that requires a 10% ethanol content in regular gasoline. For example, CNBC states
Since 2007, nearly every gallon of gasoline sold in the United States is mixed with about 10 percent ethanol as part of a mandate enacted to reduce dependence on foreign oil and boost use of renewable fuels.
Neither the country nor you need the continuation of the (RFS) “ethanol mandate.” Not that it made much sense ever (chemically speaking, ethanol is partially-burnt gasoline and therefore, provides much less usable energy than an equal amount of unadulterated gasoline). Even the originator of that misguided ethanol-idea, former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore admitted to that, already several years ago but continues to scare the world with his climate alarmism. IMHO, while the mandate was claimed to be a way to “protect the climate” at the time, in reality it was more or less a ruse, designed to help you, corn farmers, out at a time of depressed corn prices but sold to the public as a “climate protection” plan. Later on, Mr. Gore even alluded to that as well.
Protection—from what?
To begin with, the term CLIMATE describes a 30-year (or longer) average of the WEATHER at a certain location on earth. Therefore, the CLIMATE is a mathematical construct that bears little resemblance to what’s happening outside your domicile or office. It may be hot in summer or dangerously cold in winter; the seasons come and go as per the earth’s path around the sun. Even if that decades-spanning average would change, the weather still would be “too [whatever]” many days of the year. Mother Nature just doesn’t serve a global average of anything at any location and rarely placates any specific desire.
As recently noted by Paul Driessen, Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, “… corn ethanol and other biofuel mandates remain embedded in US law” and “… once a government program is created, it becomes virtually impossible to eliminate, revise or even trim fat from it.”
Of course, it’s no surprise that some Senators from the corn-belt areas want to keep the “corn-to-ethanol gravy train” going for their constituents. After all, there is lot of dough in that, not only for the farmers but for them as well. read more
🌽 I’LL HELP THE VEGETARIANS MAKE SENSE 🌽
🍎 If every field of CORN was converted to vegetables for human consumption, we would NEVER be able to eat it all. NEVER.
🍎 All that corn and soybean is thrown down the mouths of animals, and 10 acres of corn later, we have 4 pounds of choice meat, and another 50 of miscellaneous parts. Not a wise ratio.
🍎 White meat is healthier, and faster to raise to harvest. (chicken, fish, turkey)
🍎 Children need protein from ANIMAL MEAT for brain development, but older people need to eat LESS as they age, not the same amount, we are FAR less active, and we have an obesity problem.
🍎 We need to have a TOTAL re-organization of our food pyramid and adopt menus from around the world that focus on vegetables, and less meat.
🍎 A typical Korean dish would have a bowl of mixed fried veggies, a sprinkle of ham or beef, a side-dish of soup (for a better watery digestion) Kimchi (FILLED with pro-biotic digestion enzymes) a small fish (protein).
🍎 What do Americans eat? 5 lbs of red meat, and a spoonful of mashed potatoes, 2 tablespoons of carots, and a ton of salt and butter.
Sad.
Oh yeah, ethanol is bad! …or not, I didn’t read the article sorry.
Ethanol needs to be aged many years in charred oak barrels to be safe for use by mankind.
My deer you dress
My fish you clean
But you are nowhere to be seen
My Ethylene
We are shipping our beef to China and now hamburger costs as much as steak used to.
Using corn to produce less efficient fuel we don’t need, has increased the cost of feeding meat producing animals which increases the cost to us omnivores.
As a small engine mech it is a boon for me. Nearly every small engine problem can be traced to the use of ethanol. Sad but true.
Any “farmer” that participates in this scheme can kiss my hairy Irish ass. If that offends, then it’s you I’m talking to.
This is a case of choosing winners and losers, something the government should not be involved in.
Since corn is so high marginal farmland is being cultivated reducing pheasant habitat and I am going hunting this weekend, fewer birds available to kill….
Only in America would we pour perfectly good (and sugary) corn liquor into our gas tanks. Follow the money. Check chuck grassley first.
As for small engines, I have to pay $8 first a quart of TruFuel. Gasoline without ethanol. That’s $32 a gallon.
We are being boned.
@PHenry
# Me too ….
I’m tired of being pounded based on junk science and faulty analysis by special interest groups who benefit from government regulations.
Why do Leftists want the poorest of the poor in the world to STAAAARVE?!?
After all, what goes the tank can’t go in the mouth (well, unless you’re a Democrat).
THINK of the starving cheeeeldren!!!!
Maybe it’s because there are lots of boats here (living near the Gulf coast), but the Wawa gas chain has ethanol-free gas at most of their stations…and I’ve found all I need is about 1 gallon of that stuff mixed in with the rest to make it run like a charm (…and their “Cuban Roast” coffee beats the pants off of starbucks any day!).
I agree with I Am Tosk – when the renewable fuels scheme wears out they can / will start promoting the corn to fuel scam as a jobs program for the engine repair industry.
My son has been going to school in Lima Ohio, I was surprised to learn from his girlfriend that almost all of the corn grown in the surrounding area if for making ethanol no for animal feed nor grocery shelf.
Dont forget the negative and considerable impacts on water quality from nitrogen-based fertilizers used to max out production of Big Corn
I guess it’s just a bit of ideology, but it seems a sin to turn something edible for humans into a marketable asset for rich fuckers. Sorry for the language but I am aggravated by this.
Farmers dont need ethanol plants to survive. But people need farmers to survive.
only in America can you take food from the starving nations and pour it into your gas tank to drive to the grocery store.
@Charlie WalksonWater, your comment is hilarious. Do you know what type of corn is sold to ethanol plants? Its called yellow dent. Its field corn not sweet corn. Less than 1% of ALL yellow dent corn is processed into human food. Cattle on the other hand love the crap out of it. Which by the way ethanol plants makes a lot of cattle feed.
Dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
larger than ever, environmental damage of colossal scale
Should of voted Cruz 🙂
Farmwife, the entire ethanol for fuel process is a waste of resources. Cropland is wasted to grow inefficient fuel for our cars and the majority of America is forced to use it. Just another way to grease politicians palms.