As you know, my wife and I both drive cars powered by 85% ethanol. It is a cleaner burning fuel made from corn. It is made in Missouri and benefits the local economy. The proceeds from its sale do not bankroll terrorist sponsoring regimes in the middle east. It has a higher octane rating than super premium gas. It is 15-20% less efficient than gas, but costs 20% less. Currently, E85 costs $.65 per gallon less than regular unleaded. So what possible argument could anyone have against its use? There are a few, which are invalid when you look at the facts.
Ethanol is blamed for higher prices for corn-based products at the grocery store. According to the USDA, 2.1 billion bushels of corn went into the making of ethanol last year. However, 3.5 billion bushels went into the production of sweeteners (ask your dietitian where corn syrup fits into the food pyramid), starch for making plastic containers, and consumable alcohol. Ask yourself one question: Which is better for our country- energy independence or unhealthy sweeteners, souvenir beer cups, and whiskey? What's worse is that 5.6 billion bushes of corn are used to fatten up beef and pork for slaughter each year. How many starving people around the world could we feed if Americans would eat a few less hamburgers and pork steaks every week? By the way, cows can eat grass and hay just fine and hogs can eat anything, so why do we divert so much of this "endangered" corn crop to feeding these creatures? Answer: The world-wide drought caused by global warming which in turn is caused by burning petroleum-based fuels is creating arid conditions that inhibit the growth of hay and other natural feed stocks for livestock. Simply put, if we burned more renewable biofuels, we could reduce global warming and thereby reduce the need to feed livestock corn.
There is another category entirely ignored by the media. Pet food. As you know, I sell nothing but the very best dog and cat food at my store, Treats Unleashed. One distinction all of our foods have is that they are corn-free. Why is that a good thing? Because corn is a protein that carnivores like dogs and cats have a very difficult time digesting. They were never meant to eat grains in the wild. Corn causes allergies in pets and also digestive upsets and kidney problems. So why is it in pet food? Because it is cheap and makes the laboratory analysis indicate a high protein percentage, even though it is virtually indigestible to dogs and cats. What kind of an impact does this use of corn have on prices for food at the grocery store? I can't say for sure but it has to make an impact according to this statistic by the USDA and the Iowa Corn Growers Association: "Because sweetener, starch and alcohol production doesn't use all of the corn kernel, the 3.5 billion bushels that went into those products also provided 29.4 million tons of animal feed and 3.3 billion pounds of corn oil." Source: USDA, industry statistics.
29.4 million tons of corn went to animal feed and another 3.3 billion pounds went to corn oil. I think that would make a significant impact on the price of food at the grocery store, don't you? But there's one more thing the spin doctors of the Big Oil industry aren't talking about: Virtually every single item for sale at virtually every single store in this country was delivered in the back of a diesel-burning truck. Oil. Plain and simple. Diesel costs over $4 per gallon right now and will continue to go up. Don't blame ethanol for higher food prices. Until tractor trailers run on biodiesel made from soybeans and until corn is no longer used to make our soda sweeter and our animals fatter, we will continue to see prices rise at the grocery store.
Don't blame ethanol- embrace it.
7 comments:
Here's a list of items made from corn: http://www.iowacorn.org/cornuse/cornuse_6.html
Try to find one item that feeds people in third world countries on that list.
From the Iowa Corn Growers website:
What can you get from one bushel of corn?
1.6 Pounds of Corn Oil
Cooking Oil, Margarine, Mayonnaise, Salad Dressing, Shortening, Soups, Printing Ink, Soap, Leather Tanning
AND
13.5 Pounds of 21% Protein Gluten Feed
Livestock & Poultry Feed, Pet Food
AND
2.6 Pounds of 60% Gluten Meal
Amino Acids, Fur Cleaner, Poultry Feed
AND 32 Pounds of Starch
Adhesives, Batteries, Cardboard, Crayons, Degradable Plastics, Dyes, Plywood, Paper, Antibiotics, Chewing Gum
OR
33 Pounds of Sweetener
Shoe Polish, Soft Drinks & Juices, Jams and Jellies, Canned Fruit, Cereal, Licorice, Peanut Butter, Pickles, Catsup, Marshmallows
OR
2.7 Gallons of Ethanol/Alcohol
Motor Fuel Additive, Alcoholic Beverages, Industrial Alcohol
In 2007, an acre of corn went into 3,291 hamburgers or 66, 713 bowls of corn flakes or 7,608 pork chops, or even 464 gallons of E85 fuel. In addition to food and fuel, that crop went into paper, textiles, adhesives, and more. Mulitply those numbers by the nearly 14 million acres of corn produced in Iowa and we're really talking about meeting demand!
Blogdaddy,
Great insight on this current topic. Your message is one about choice and alternatives. I find that you have some credibility on this because you have proven that making choices can change lives. Reference your living example of becoming debt free through smart choices. If ethannol were a pre-dominantly available energy source (meaning that's all that was sold at a "gas" station, then the choice to run ethanol powered vehicles would be easier for the mainstream. This year corn did go to producing ethanol, but I wonder what the stats are of corn production this year vs. last? I.e. equal corn was produced, but a greater % allocated to ethanol vs. other products therefore the rise in food costs (which is current media presumption? Or, overall was there actually more corn produced than last year? Is is because more corn is in demand that futures are higher so food costs are higher? And, because farmers are planting corn vs. wheat, is it really a wheat shortage that is also a contributing factor? Or,are the Industrial Farm corporation corn producers simply going to be like Big Oil companies and use this "event" as rationale to make record profits? Your point about choosing how to use corn (or not use it) in other products makes good sense. Any added insights to the questions above?
- Howdy
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/autos/0804/gallery.car_on_a_diet/index.html
another way to save fuel and go green.
Grain Harvest Sets Record, But Supplies Still Tight
by Worldwatch Institute on December 12, 2007
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5540
The 2007 grain harvest hit a record 2.3 billion tons, yet voracious global demand has pushed cereal stocks to 30-year lows. Despite growing harvests, several factors are actually decreasing the amount of grain available per person as food, which peaked at 376 kilograms in 1986:
Industrial livestock production requires large amounts of grain, particularly corn. Grain, in conjunction with soybeans, provides the primary source of livestock feed: in total, roughly one third (35 percent) of the world’s grain becomes feed.
Ethanol and other fuels now consume 17 percent of the world’s grain harvest. Worldwide, the amount of course grains (a group that includes corn, barley, sorghum, and other grains fed mainly to animals) converted to energy jumped 15 percent in 2007 to 255 million tons, although this is small compared with the 627 million tons devoted to livestock feed.
In recent decades, annual growth in grain production has at best matched each year’s population growth.
The low stocks and strong demand combined to push prices of all cereals to new highs in 2007. At harvest time, the U.S. corn export price was up about 70 percent from the previous year, while the U.S. hard wheat price averaged 65 percent more than a year earlier.
Other key trends in the Vital Signs Grain Update include:
At 784 million tons, the record 2007 corn harvest was buoyed by growing use of the grain to produce biofuels, which prompted farmers in the United States, Brazil, and Argentina to plant more land for corn. The U.S. alone is responsible for over 40 percent of the global corn harvest and half of world exports.
The global rice harvest was up slightly to 633 million tons, while wheat also increased modestly (by 2 percent) to 605 million tons.
Corn, wheat, and rice account for about 85 percent of the global grain harvest by weight, with sorghum, millet, barley, oats, and other less common grains rounding out the total.
"35% of the world's grain goes to animal feed." The above article does not mention how much goes to junk-food sweeteners, drinking alcohol, and plastics but I think its safe to say that at least as much corn goes into those products as it does into ethanol. Therefore, a huge percentage of edible grains are used for industries other than ethanol or human food.
Perhaps other grain producing counties (like Russia) should focus on growing food to export to needy countries. Perhaps we should invest in educating farmers in third world countries on how to get the most out of their crops. Perhaps we should educate people around the world about birth-control so as to head off a population boom that would ultimately end in mass starvation. Perhaps we should divert the hundreds of billions of dollars earmarked for the continuing occupation of Iraq into research for finding better energy sources and farming techniques for our future.
Perhaps its time for Americans and the rest of the world to face reality: If we think gas is expensive now, wait until the Chinese government gets its wish and most of its citizens own cars. Can you imagine how much gas will cost if within the next few years an addtional one billion vehicles hit the roads? Can you imagine the carbon that will be spewed into the atmosphere as a result? Gas will cost $10 per gallon within a couple years. An exaggeration? I don't think so. Demand will continue to rise as supply dwindles. It is not alarmist to predict a world war being fought over the last of the planet's oil. Rioting will break out around the world when prices reach a breaking point. People will kill and be killed over a tank of gas. And all could be prevented if we could find an alternative to oil. Ethanol is the only viable fuel source at our disposal right now. Instead of people using it as a scapegoat for the world's food crisis, ethanol should be invested in. It should be produced more efficienty. It should be embraced until such time as another, better alternative can be developed.
btw I am so glad you wrote this blog.
Now I have more ammunition for my ethanol scapegoating in-laws
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