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PaleHawkWoman -> RE: Price of Corn Set New Record!! (6/15/2008 3:03:08 PM)
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So little of the nation's grain crops are being diverted for ethanol that to blame the grain shortage on ethanol production is pretty idiotic. Corn isn't the only source for ethanol production, there's also switchgrass, sorghum(sugar cane stalks can be used after the juice is pulped out of them), beets, and even kudzu.
A large portion of our corn and grain stores are being diverted to China as payment on our mutli-billion $ trade deficit with them.
In the past 2 decades we have lost more than half of arable(farm) land to development- housing, industrial, and retail developments. Once farm land is developed it is never farm land again. In short, we are diminishing the capability to grow our own food.
Water once used for agriculture in drier climates has been bought and diverted to municiple usage by large cities like Los Angeles. This water is gone for good. LA is famous for trying to steal or unlawfully grab water rights from ranchers and farmers as well as from other cities, like Sacramento and San Francisco. Without irrigation, or when natural waterflow into an otherwise arable area is disrupted or completely diverted, then the farmers and ranchers in those areas are no longer able to produce crops or raise livestock and the land becomes dessicated.
We need alternatives to oil for our energy needs, even if only as a supplement to oil usage. We also need to be able to feed ourselves,which IS a matter of national security, so we need to keep as much farm land in agricultural production as possible and enable farmers and ranchers to make a decent profit. Anyone who thinks its cheaper to get it from Mexico is living in a dream world.
If you're one of those people who live in a big house on a huge lot, go to Lowes or Home Depot or your local farmer's co-op, get yourself some gardening books, seed, and tools, and use your land to grow yourself some food instead of spending all that money and water on a manicured lawn. Heck, your county's Agriculture Extension office would be more than happy to help you in that endevour. You can plant fruit trees, berry bushes and patches, row crops, and learn how to can and freeze the fruits of your labors so as to have some food for the winter months. Ladies, how about planting some table herbs along with those petunias? Fresh sage, lemon grass, dill, basil, and oregano are so much more flavorful than the dried stuff you get at the store. You can also grow them indoors over the winter by the windows.
Also, you CAN keep a few hens for eggs(don't need a rooster for that) in a small coop about the size of the average dog run without much effort. Rabbits not only breed prolifically, they are an excellent lean meat source, and in both cases you can use the droppings as high-grade fertilizer for the crops. Instead of throwing out food scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells, and other organic waste, try composting it to enrich the soil.
The cause of our grain shortage is not ethanol production, it's our own greed, short-sightedness, and stupidity. Of course, the weather here the past couple of years hasn't been conducive to optimum production either. Once again the Midwest has been hit by massive floods and the Southeast is still in a drought. If we had the larger land-base of arable land still in production, tho, it wouldn't be so much of an emergency.
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