[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: Family Feud: Why agribusiness giants are facing off over corn ethanol As recently as 2005, a buck fifty could get you a bushel of corn -- about three days' rations for a confined dairy cow. Today, that same bushel would run you nearly $4. That rapid price increase, inspired by a slew of federal policies that encourage transforming corn into ethanol, is rippling through the global food system, jacking up food prices and squeezing low-income people throughout the world. But these terms of debate merely mimic a growing rift within the agribusiness lobby. If we accept them, we risk reinforcing the centrality of industrial corn -- an environmentally and nutritionally suspect product -- in supplying our food and fuel. Strassel writes that when corn was cheap and way overproduced -- as it has been for most of the past 30 years -- the entire agribusiness lobby rallied around the ethanol cause. What did it matter to feedlot meat powerhouses like Tyson and Smithfield if corn traders like Archer Daniels Midland made a tidy profit from turning corn into fuel, with a major assist from the government? Legislators continue to issue bill after bill mandating ever-increasing ethanol use, but a funny thing is happening, Strassel reports: More and more of them are quietly capping the amount of corn that can be used, in an attempt to spur the use of other feedstocks (although cellulosic technologies, needed for rival feedstocks like switchgrass, remain commercially unviable, even with loads of government subsidies). If Congress pulls back support for ethanol, the corn price will likely tumble. Lower prices will mean a windfall for feedlot operators like Tyson -- and will likely spur a slew of government commodity payments to corn growers under the farm bill. Poster Comment: Ribeyes: Sale price $16.79/lb Coming soon to a store near you, and brought to you by your government. "Meddling in the people's everyday lives in unseen ways for the last 150 years"...
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 13.
#1. To: innieway (#0)
Coming soon to a store near you, and brought to you by your government. "Meddling in the people's everyday lives in unseen ways for the last 150 years"... Part of the equation is the unholy fuel prices that truckers must pay to get products to market: locally, prime tenderloin of beef is $24.99/lb.
Sale prices for T-Bone in todays shopper, $9.99. Sirloin, $6.99 I remember the day, not that long ago when I could buy a whole sirloin for .99lb and slice it into jerky. Depending on a business offer that would put me 'back on the road again', I'm all ready to start raising my own chickens, turkeys and perhaps goats. Time to get off the 'grocery grid'...
With the influx of the M.E. types into our country, there is a huge demand for goat, and the Boer would be worth considering.
Yes there is. And the Mexicans LOVE it too... (So do I)... Nubian is also worth considering if you drink milk... That's what we have. We keep the nanny goats for more milk production and more kids, and the young billies we raise to either sell or butcher for ourselves... The Boer will be strictly for the meat, whereas the Nubian (while not the last word in meat production) CAN be used either way... It is also imperative to "cut" the billies young if it is to be used for the meat, or else it will have a VERY foul taste! Another plus to goats is that they are "cheap keep". We don't buy ANY feed for ours, they get all they need from foraging (and the occasional cardboard box or burlap sack for desert HAHAHAHA). They'll thrive in situations in which no other animal I know of could possibly find food! But you absolutely HAVE to keep things you DON'T want "foraged" fenced off if they're free-range goats (like ours are). 2 or 3 strand "hot wire" works pretty good, and is relatively cheap. They'll "forage" your garden in a heartbeat, and will munch on every tree limb within their reach (which is about 6' for our goats - they have wonderful balance and stand on their hind legs very well). AND you'd better keep your vehicle garaged if you don't want it scratched or dented as they have absolutely NO fear of heights, and climb on things at every opportunity... All that aside, they are just great "critters" to have around, not only for the milk and meat, but they are VERY playful and fun to watch!!!
cabrito bump
There are no replies to Comment # 13. End Trace Mode for Comment # 13.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||