Comments on: Soybean Growers Help Dispel Ethanol, Biodiesel Myths

By: BC

BC — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:06:19 +0000

Oh please, enough with this ‘precious corn” BS. Corn isn’t even a good food source.

FACT: less than 1% of corn grown in the USA is for human consumption.

FACT; feed corn is used for ethanol production, and is not edible (indigestible) by humans.

FACT: the by-product from ethanol production is – ANIMAL FEED.
The more ethanol production increases, the more byproduct -ANIMAL FEED- is produced.

Ethanol uses only the starch from hybrid animal feed corn crops, leaving the protein and fibers to be further processed into animal feed.

Ethanol production takes NOTHING from food production.

By: NY

NY — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:11:40 +0000

With all due respect, from an ethical standpoint these are shallow excuses, nor do I believe they are necessarily valid. Believe it or not, some third world governments actually care for their people. To burn corn that would otherwise feed a billion human beings for a year is a tragedy, regardless of the justifications we make to convince ourselves otherwise.

Switch to efficient non-food alternatives if needs be, but for goodness sake stop converting all this precious corn to smoke.

By: Cindy Zimmerman

Cindy Zimmerman — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:02:47 +0000

Transportation costs are clearly an issue when it comes to food aid, but a bigger issue when it comes to actually getting food to the people who need it is corrupt governments and infrastructure issues.

By: NY

NY — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:20:53 +0000

It saddens me to read 4 and 5. I’m originally from Africa, where I would see hungry people on an almost daily basis – and I lived in a relatively well-developed area. YillHorp, I would seriously question the impartiality of the study you cite (Dept of Energy, please). The UN may not be perfect but it holds a bit more weight for me:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7065061.stm

Dwane, come on. If the same countries can easily go about making trade with the third world, then transportation clearly isn’t an issue.

It’s all about selfish national interests coming first, and I fear that unless we begin to adopt a greater world view, these issues will come back to hurt everyone in a big way.

By: Dwane Hemphill

Dwane Hemphill — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:38:10 +0000

The critical problem of feeding people of the world is more of a transportation problem than a food availablity problem. Solve the transportation problem(s) & the American farmer with just a little help from around the world can feed the world! In fact I would bet there would be a worldwide surplus in 5 years!!!

By: YillHorp

YillHorp — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:18:55 +0000

I’ve heard otherwise – a study by the Dept. of Energy noted that ethanol does not have any effect on food price increases..ethanol is a great way to help stem this fuel crisis, and we should do all we can to promote ethanol as a form of alternative energy.

By: NY

NY — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:18:18 +0000

Whatever the reasons for the increase in food prices (and biofuels undoubtedly contribute to this), it is reprehensible to continue burning corn while people around the world are starving to death.

http://www.bahaiperspectives.com/current-affairs/2008/07/31/coco-jambo/

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:23:01 +0000

If you really were thinking you would realize that a petroleum supply also represents a finite quantity and the fuel demand is finite as well. You really should question the validity of all the criticism that ethanol has been getting(probably being perpetuated by people with secret ties to oil). A study from a well respected energy monitoring agency has estimated that the increased ethanol supply has already offset the price of gasoline by fifty cents per gallon. If you knew the slighest about large scale crop production you would know that farming costs have raised about five times what they were because of petroleum costs. Hence, higher food prices(oh, you must not have been THINKING again.) The goal from the start was to move from food based ethanol to cellulosic based, which is being done rather quickly(search Range Fuels and others). No one said the problem would be solved overnight, these things take time. For everyone complaining I ask what are you doing or what would you have done to help solve the problem. I just dont see any harm in having ALTERNATIVES, to keep prices at reasonable levels. That is why we are paying four dollars a gallon for gas, we dont have an option.

By: Corny

Corny — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:46:38 +0000

It is almost not worth responding to your crap but I will. To all the THINKING people out there consider this; turning a finite supply (Food or feed) to satisfy a infinite demand (Fuel) is insane!