Ethanol and the drought this year

[Necropostophiliac]

Ethanol and the drought this year

Food prices are going up this year and in 2013.

The drought has taken its toll.

If we did not have the mandated ethanol (which a lot is made from corn)
would it be so bad?

As corn crop shrivels, grocery bills will rise | Special report: Chasing the Drought | KansasCity.com

 

[menotyou]

The ethanol mandate is simply a payoff. It was and is a joke. If Romney hadn't picked Ryan, He'd be a shoe in, just based on gas prices alone. Lord knows, I would have voted for him. Considering what we do for the rest of the globe, cheap gas isn't much to ask for.

 

[Necropostophiliac]

To me what is such a shame is we are in so deep now.

No politican will do anything now as Ohio and Iowa are swing states and guess what they produce? Corn
Look below at the US Corn belt:

 

[cachsux]

Any plan to use food for fuel is idiotic.

 

[Babagounj]

[h=1]Cows eating candy during the drought[/h]
MAYFIELD, Ky. (CNN/WPSD) - Ranchers have struggled with skyrocketing corn prices, because the drought has made feeding their livestock very expensive. But one rancher has turned to a very sweet solution.
At Mayfield's United Livestock Commodities, owner Joseph Watson is tweaking the recipe for success.
"Just to be able to survive, we have to look for other sources of nutrition," he said.
His 1,400 cattle are no longer feeding off corn. The prices, Watson says, are too high to keep corn in stock. So earlier this year, he began to buy second-hand candy.
"It has a higher ratio of fat than actually feeding straight corn," Watson explained. "It's hard to believe it will work but we've already seen the results of it now."
Watson mixes the candy with an ethanol by-product and a mineral nutrient. He says the cows have not shown any health problems from eating the candy, and they are gaining weight as they should.
"This ration is balanced to have not too much fat in it," he said.
The packaged candy comes from various companies at a discounted rate because it is not fit for store shelves.
"Salvage is a problem for a lot of these companies and they're proud to have a place to go with it," said Watson.

 

[menotyou]

I live for the day when corn is 50¢ a bushel. Serves those greedy bastards, if it ever happens.

 

[rod]

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure someone will) but didn't the ethanol subsidies end a few months ago? That would pretty much put and end to a business whos final product costs more to produce than they can sell it for. I know the big ethanol plant in my area announced a few weeks ago that they were shutting down completely because they said "the price of corn was too high". (No mention of their big fat government subsidy check disappearing was made). Those who dreamed up the whole ethanol scam and raped the taxpayers to the tune of billions of dollars should be taken out in a dried up corn field and shot.

 

[menotyou]

Ethanol Subsidies: Not Gone, Just Hidden a Little Better | Mother Jones

 

[rod]

Ethanol Subsidies: Not Gone, Just Hidden a Little Better | Mother Jones

I should have know better.

 

[brett636]

This whole ethanol scheme is one of those backroom agreement debacles that nobody seems to want to change. Atleast in Washington. Ethanol is produced by distilling the natural sugars in corn in a manner similar to the way alcohol is produced. The problem here is that there are much better crops to do this with than corn, but yet corn is the staple crop for ethanol production in this country. If I recall correctly it takes 1 gallon of oil to produce 1.2 gallons of ethanol with corn. In Brazil they use sugar cane which requires 1 gallon of oil for every 10 gallons of ethanol produced. Sugar beets are a crop that can be used to produce ethanol, and while I can't recall the exact number, we can get a lot more ethanol with sugar beets for every gallon of oil required than we can with corn, and unlike sugar cane we can grow sugar beets in this country. My main point here is that using corn for fuel production is stupid, especially when there are better crops to use in the production of ethanol.

Requiring ethanol to be mixed with gasoline is another ordeal altogether. We are told that it reduces greenhouse gases, but at what cost? Currently gasoline produces are required to mix 10% ethanol with their gasoline blends, but the issue here is that ethanol is corrosive to certain plastics and metals found in most vehicle fuel systems. Basically we are putting a chemical in our vehicle's fuel system that is damaging to that very fuel system. The effects are already apparent in small engines like lawn mowers, weed eaters, and the like. The older small engines are breaking down more often because the ethanol destroys the carburetor. Newer equipment is designed to work better with ethanol, but how much more greenhouse gases are being produced in order to make all this new equipment not to mention repairing the old equipment time and time again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO_-ufHVc_8

Ethanol is really a fuel additive that has very little benefit to the long term energy independence this country needs. We are using crops to produce it that we need for food, and the ethanol energy we get is nearly equivalent to the energy we have to put in to get it. The additive itself is corrosive to the vehicles we put it into, and all this nonsense is in the name of reducing dependence on foreign oil(which is it not doing) and reducing green house gas emissions(which is very questionable). What is really at the heart of all this is government. It is government which has subsidized corn to use in ethanol production, and again it is the government which mandates that is be mixed in with our gasoline. I personally would like to see an end to all subsidies and mandates in regards to ethanol and let it either sink or swim on its own in the marketplace. Its the only way to ensure it is being produced using the most efficient sources to produce it from, and its the only way to be sure it is used in an appropriate way in the energy marketplace in ways it can benefit energy consumers instead of harming them. Until that happens expect food and fuel prices to continue to rise all the while the government can tell you that inflation is at an all time low because they do not count food and fuel prices in their inflation indexes. What a crock this whole situation is.

 

[menotyou]

I should have know better.

How many of those cronies in Washington own some of those big***** farms that benefit from this? I know most of the state reps around here get some type of subsidy check on top of the fat check we already pay them.

 

[Necropostophiliac]

McCain: Ethanol Lobby Has 'Outrageous' Power

It lost because of the influence of the ethanol lobby,” McCain said on Fox News Thursday. “Ethanol is probably
the greatest rip-off that I've seen since P.T. Barnum.

It is one of the most outrageous examples of the influence of special interests.”

McCain: Ethanol Lobby Has 'Outrageous' Power

 

[Necropostophiliac]

Record Drought May Be a Good Time to Stop Using Corn for Fuel

Newsflash: The United Nations and The Wall Street Journal just agreed on something.
Earlier this month the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization issued a statement urging
"an immediate, temporary suspension" of America's use of corn to produce ethanol, in order to
"allow more of the crop to be channelled toward food and feed uses."

Within 24 hours, the Journal responded: "Natural disasters can't be controlled. Ethanol is
a man-made disaster that could be stopped."

The Department of Agriculture says we're likely to reap only 10.8 billion bushels of corn in 2012.
That sounds like a lot, but it's actually 13% less than we grew in 2011, and the smallest harvest since 2006.

With so little corn to go around, U.S. law still mandates that we take 40% of the harvest and turn it into ethanol --
not useful things like corn chips (yum!) or cattle feed, but a fuel blamed for everything from wasting water to
corroding engines to simply not being all that good a fuel source.
(A liter of ethanol, when burned, generates a third less energy than a liter of oil.)

Record Drought May Be a Good Time to Stop Using Corn for Fuel - DailyFinance

 

[rod]

So I wonder how many millions of bushels of "surplus" corn we will donate this year to other nations that hate us? Maybe we should cut that crap out this year and take care of our own for a change and maybe other nations will come to our rescue----ha ha.

 

[soberups]

If we are going to end subsidies for biofuels, then we also need to end the "hidden" subsidies for crude oil.

A true free- market solution would require that every barrel of oil we import from the Middle East be taxed to directly offset all costs associated with the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq as well as the ongoing costs of maintaining a huge naval presence in the Persian Gulf.

The price of imported crude is currently being subsidized by our great- grandchildren who will inherit the enormous debt we are incurring. Its time to start paying as we go. I would like to see a $4 per gallon "deficit reduction tax" added to each gallon of gas or diesel sourced from imported crude oil, along with elimination of the EPA restrictions on hyper-efficient compact diesel cars like the VW Lupo that can get 80 MPG on biodiesel. These cars are available in Europe but not here.

Such a tax would allow renewable, made-in-America biofuels to compete on a level playing field with fossil fuels. Biofuels dont have to be made from corn; they can be made from hemp seed, algae, wood waste, or other forms of biomass. Diesel can also be refined from coal, which we have in abundance.

The technology currently exists for cars that could get 80+MPG on 100% renewable fuels. The only things getting in the way of such cars are government regulations and artificially cheap fossil fuels.

NO MORE WARS FOR CHEAP OIL!!

 

[klein]

All I can say to this topic is that Alberta will have a all time high record crop of corn.
Our farmers will earn a fortune ! Currently corn is selling for 25 cents a cob at Safeway. Basically , next to nothing !

I don't understand how a farmer can grow it, pick it, ship it, and Safeway making a profit, too, just for 25 cents a cob !

 

[Babagounj]

better not eat them, or there won't be any corn left to feed your "special" meats for your dogs.

 

[ajblakejr]

[h=1]Cows eating candy during the drought[/h]
MAYFIELD, Ky. (CNN/WPSD) - Ranchers have struggled with skyrocketing corn prices, because the drought has made feeding their livestock very expensive. But one rancher has turned to a very sweet solution.
At Mayfield's United Livestock Commodities, owner Joseph Watson is tweaking the recipe for success.
"Just to be able to survive, we have to look for other sources of nutrition," he said.
His 1,400 cattle are no longer feeding off corn. The prices, Watson says, are too high to keep corn in stock. So earlier this year, he began to buy second-hand candy.
"It has a higher ratio of fat than actually feeding straight corn," Watson explained. "It's hard to believe it will work but we've already seen the results of it now."
Watson mixes the candy with an ethanol by-product and a mineral nutrient. He says the cows have not shown any health problems from eating the candy, and they are gaining weight as they should.
"This ration is balanced to have not too much fat in it," he said.
The packaged candy comes from various companies at a discounted rate because it is not fit for store shelves.
"Salvage is a problem for a lot of these companies and they're proud to have a place to go with it," said Watson.

Well, that is, until Mayor Bloomberg bans any bovine product fed candy in NYC.

 

[brett636]

If we are going to end subsidies for biofuels, then we also need to end the "hidden" subsidies for crude oil.

A true free- market solution would require that every barrel of oil we import from the Middle East be taxed to directly offset all costs associated with the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq as well as the ongoing costs of maintaining a huge naval presence in the Persian Gulf.

The price of imported crude is currently being subsidized by our great- grandchildren who will inherit the enormous debt we are incurring. Its time to start paying as we go. I would like to see a $4 per gallon "deficit reduction tax" added to each gallon of gas or diesel sourced from imported crude oil, along with elimination of the EPA restrictions on hyper-efficient compact diesel cars like the VW Lupo that can get 80 MPG on biodiesel. These cars are available in Europe but not here.

Such a tax would allow renewable, made-in-America biofuels to compete on a level playing field with fossil fuels. Biofuels dont have to be made from corn; they can be made from hemp seed, algae, wood waste, or other forms of biomass. Diesel can also be refined from coal, which we have in abundance.

The technology currently exists for cars that could get 80+MPG on 100% renewable fuels. The only things getting in the way of such cars are government regulations and artificially cheap fossil fuels.

NO MORE WARS FOR CHEAP OIL!!

I think we both can agree that government is the problem here. Its government that is encouraging using a food source for ethanol production, and a poor choice of food source at that. Its the government forcing us to put it into our gas tanks causing untold millions of dollars in damage to our vehicles. Its the government using the EPA to deny us vehicles that could get better MPG all the while claiming to be the sole motivator to bringing higher MPG vehicles to market. The government is the sole entity standing in the way of development of home grown energy like coal and natural gas.

Where I part from your post is your assumption that the national debt is related solely or mostly due to military actions overseas. If it were not for our ballooning social entitlement costs our government would not be running a deficit today. The cost of the military overseas is nothing compared to the costs of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security here. While this is for a different thread lets please debate this by sticking to the facts as they are instead of what some of us may want them to be.