Ethanol is Good Right? - 3/04/08

The idea of turning a key staple of food (corn) into fuel to help solve our energy problems it a good idea isn’t it? Wrong. Ethanol comes at a very high price. It requires tremendous resources to produce ethanol from corn which includes acres of land, fuel, fertilizer and a lot of water. After all this process, the widespread use of ethanol is using up our natural resources while continuing the myth that it is helping our energy problem.

Farmers using ethanol locally would make perfect sense. Growing a certain amount of corn on your farm and processing it a few miles away at the local co-op ethanol plant makes total sense. But since the federal government has thrown billions in subsidies in the industry and created a national mandate, which would be impossible to meet, this has thrown things out of balance and out of perspective.

Farmers have naturally moved to corn to make more money, throwing aside less profitable crops like cotton and wheat. Now with the supply of cotton and wheat lower, what does that do to their price? Wheat has doubled in one year.

In some cases crop rotation has been overlooked, growing corn on corn and not rotating the crops which can destroy the land.

One ethanol plant requires millions and millions of gallons of water to produce ethanol. In Wisconsin the local rivers have been dropping rapidly due to all the extra water the local ethanol plant is requiring.

The days of cheap oil are here believe it or not. There is no doubt that oil prices will continue to go much higher. We will be forced to utilize more and more alternatives. Food for fuel is not the answer because there is never going to be an alternative for food. We all need to eat. The days of cheep food are over.

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