Re: OT: The big lie. Or is it

On Oct 22, 1:57 pm, Briarroot <Briarr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Puff Griffis wrote:
I know I should not post this but I need to
with people not afraid to give their opinions. The
big lie I am talking about is the current push for
ethanol based fuels curing our dependence on
foreign oil. In my opinion this is a political and
partly dangerous hoax. My thoughts are that the
prices of food & land will skyrocket if our corn
and soybean crops are dedicated to fuel. Fields
that where used for hay to feed cattle will now
grow grains for fuel. Beef prices will go up.
Fields used for grains for feed of other food
items, chickens turkeys pigs and so on, will be
used for fuel and the prices will go up. I am not
saying we don't need to find alternate fuel
sources but using ethanol based blends seems at
least to me to be cutting our own throats.

You called it correctly, Puff. It's been happening just as you say.
In the past 2 years, feed corn prices have skyrocketed, up over 400%,
which caused a chain reaction in the prices of all the things that
feed corn is used for, including poultry, hogs and beef cattle. The
use of corn syrup is ubiquitous; just try finding something in your
grocery store that *doesn't* use corn syrup. Even plain old ordinary
white bread uses corn syrup! So much corn was produced this summer
that the price has taken a slight dip in recent weeks because of the
temporary glut on the market, but overall, corn remains *far* more
expensive than it was previously to the detriment of the average
consumer's pocketbook. And all for what? Energy independence? That
just isn't going to happen.

Ethanol as a fuel more expensive than oil and holds less energy per
gallon, so more will have to be burned to do the same amount of work
produced by burning a gallon of gasoline. Substituting ethanol for
gasoline will neither reduce smog nor greenhouse gases. In fact,
considering how much more ethanol will have to be burned to replace
gasoline, its use will only *increase* the production of greenhouse
gases. Then factor in the amount of fertilizer that corn crops
require, fertilizer that is made from natural gas thus causing a price
increase in that fuel. When you look at the increased amount of oil
used to farm corn and haul it to the ethanol production plants, corn
as a source of fuel looks less and less like a good idea. Heads, we
lose - tails, we lose. The only positive factors in the use of
ethanol as a fuel are that its combustion is cleaner than that of
gasoline and it is a renewable resource. Those are important factors,
to be sure, but corn as a source of ethanol just won't work. If
ethanol is ever to replace gasoline we need to find a way to make it
from waste products, something that has no other market value, such as
sewage. Until then, categorize our government's push for ethanol
under "Boondoggle." Government should stay *out* of the fuel market
and let natural economic forces decide which fuel is best for which
application.

Regards,

Tim Parker ... VA#1 in a basket billiard

--
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or
the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to
their own interest." - Adam Smith- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

feed corn prices have skyrocketed, up over 400%,

Last year we sold most of our corn for $2.10 per bushel. So far the
highest price we've seen this year has been $3.58/bu. Traditionally,
corn prices have hovered around the $2.00-$2.25 level for the past 25
years. All this information is coming from someone who still owns a
small farm and checks grain prices every day. How does all this add up
to a 400% increase?

Smokey

.

Relevant Pages

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