NY Times Editorial 4-5-07

[mike ohlstein]

The Consequences of Corn - New York Times
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April 5, 2007
Editorial
The Consequences of Corn

By now most farmers know what they'll be planting this spring. And all across the country the answer is the same: corn, corn, corn. The numbers are surprising. Farmers will plant some 90.5 million acres of corn this year - 12 million more than last year and the most since 1944. Soybean acres are down by more than 10 percent, and there are similar decreases in wheat and cotton. The reason for this enormous shift is, of course, the ethanol boom and the corn rush it has created.

If it were just a matter of shifting the balance in already planted acreage - more corn, less wheat - a point of economic equilibrium might be found soon enough. The real trouble comes at the edges. This corn boom puts pressure on land that has been set aside as part of the United States Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program. Since the mid-1980s, farmers have enrolled some 37 million acres of farmland in the program. This is land that has been returned to nature, and it is part of what Americans pay for through the farm bill. Much of it is unsuitable for crops - too hilly, too wet, too valuable as wildlife habitat - but when corn prices are this high, the idea of suitable changes swiftly.

Agricultural interest groups have begun to call on the Department of Agriculture to release some of this land from the reserve so that farmers can put it into corn production. The U.S.D.A. has temporarily halted new enrollments in the program, and though it will probably not release land this year, the pressure to do so will only increase.

Much as we like the idea of ethanol production - and especially the potential of cellulosic ethanol, from sources other than corn - it would be a tragic mistake to jettison two decades of farm-based conservation for short-term profit. Corn ethanol will replace only a small fraction of the petroleum we use, and if it does so at the cost of a new agricultural land rush, then we will have lost much more in conservation than we gained in energy independence.

[neil]

it cost me more than it paid a few farmers. ethanol has cost me more then most farmers make. no ofsence to farmers iam a dirt merchant,but its a no win deal

[Chuck Fulmer]

Contaminated wheat imported from china that is currently killing our dogs and cats will eventual be imported for human consumption. Due to increased corn production We can can not depend on the FDA to assure the safety of our food(spinach strawberries, raspberries, peanut butter) or drugs (Vioxx). We would all be better off if the politicians went home and stay home. For a smile

Subject: Cannibal Restaurant

A cannibal was walking through the jungle. He came upon a restaurant run by a fellow cannibal. Feeling hungry, he sat down and looked over the menu...

Broiled Missionary: $10.00
Fried Explorer: $15.00
Baked Politician: $100.00.

The customer called the waiter over and asked, "Why such a price difference for the politician?"

The waiter replied: "Have you ever tried to clean one?"

Chuck

[In Memory Walter K]

One of the biggest users of wheat gluten in America is in the manufacture of baby food. I'm waiting for that one to hit. Seems all of these supporters of international trade and outsourcing never figured out that these countries don't maintain our standards...nor is there a mechanism in place for us to do so. Everyone is so hot to "cut our dependence on foreign oil". I havent been able to find anything but foreign labels on anything I've bought for my house, car, boat or me in the past year. Seems like it's been easier to cut our dependence on American made products. They're cheaper? Yes. But most are cheaper made. There's no free lunch. It's just a matter of how you'll pay. Outsourcing the manufacture of our military's night vision glasses to a Canadian company who outsourced the project to a Communist Chinese company is the kind of results you get. The Gene pool is gone man. Our latest product is the manufacture of idiots! Walter

[Kevin]

It is really starting to sound like not just guys with fiberglass are getting screwed. domino effect all across the way we live. Just does not make any sense as to why we as humans never seem to do the right thing. Soon wars will not be fought over religion, they will be fought over corn.