Ethanol gives more energy than Corn

Thank you for your comments. Of course, it is always easy to interpret statistics in several ways, especially if viewed with a tight lens and a narrow focus. Here is a quote from the USDA Acreage Report dated June 30, 2008. I think that the picture is slightly different from what you implied by the comment that "More acres are not being planted to corn."

"Corn planted area for all purposes is estimated at 87.3 million acres, down 7 percent from last year. Despite the decrease, corn planted acreage is the

second highest since 1946, behind last year's total of 93.6 million acres. Growers expect to harvest 78.9 million acres for grain, down 9 percent from 2007. If realized, this would be the second highest since 1944, behind last year. Farmers increased corn plantings 1.31 million acres from their March intentions. Planting got off to a slow start across the Corn Belt, Ohio Valley, and the northern half of the Great Plains as frequent precipitation and cool temperatures during March and April prevented spring planting preparations."

I have some difficulty with your comment "Why are all the major food manufacturing and retail grocery companies reporting quarter after quarter of record profits." I took a quick look at Tyson, Safeway, and Kroger. None of them look like they are reporting record profits. In fact, here is a quote from a Marketwatch report from July 28 regarding Tyson Foods

"Chicken, beef and pork producer Tyson Foods Inc. reported Monday that the soaring price of feed continued to hurt business in the latest quarter, triggering a nearly-6% drop in its share price in afternoon trade.

Grain prices are expected to total $550 million more for the full year than they did in fiscal 2007, which means Tyson's chicken segment won't turn a profit for the fiscal fourth quarter, either, the company said.

The food factor has received a lot of press, and been dismissed by some credits, but I'm glad you also brought up the ecological effects of growing biofuel crops. With continuing topsoil depletion and the overuse of agricultural chemicals, we could see an environment in the Amazon pretty messed up from biofuel agriculture if we're not careful (See: The Great Biofuel Hoax of 2008).

1. The corn ethanol business is not "rapidly growing"; it grew rapidly in 2006, stagnated in 2007 and has actually slid backward in 2008 as plants were put on hold and production reduced.

2. More acres are not being planted to corn. In fact, many farmers in the U.S. did in 2008 what they do every year; they rotated acres. Soybeans and wheat gained; corn lost.

3. The price of corn is only very marginally a player in higher food prices, because raw materials are a small part of any food cost. If raw materials are the problem, why are all the major food manufacturing and retail grocery companies reporting quarter after quarter of record profits?

4. What "land rush?" Where? The number of acres planted to crops of some kind hasn't gone up; in fact it's gone down steadily every year for decades because of urban sprawl. Values of gone up rapidly _ but in a pattern strikingly similar to previous agriculture booms in the 70s and 90s when there was no ethanol factor. In fact, the Kansas City Federal Reserve is already warning that soaring costs of production threaten to "bust" land values and predicting that values will fall as fast or faster than they rose.

5. Most of the cheap products in the world are cheap because of labor abuse. Clothing from Maylasia and Vietnam and China, automobiles from Korea, trinkets from the third world. Why is cane somehow more horrible?