[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 # 4.
#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.
I've thought of fuel prices in that way too, but a friend said something to me that made a lot of sense. Look how many lives have been lost over that vile substance (oil). Thousands of our soldiers, countless civilians - and not just in the current "war on terror". If even ONE person has had to give their LIFE over the crap, that's one too many. What is a life worth? The heart surgeon and the hospital certainly seem to think it's a pretty high amount based upon what they charge. So when you factor in all the lives lost because of the filthy slimy mess, gasoline would be a BARGAIN at $1000/gal...
#5. To: innieway (#4)
But worthy of much more study. Thanks.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||