Just last year, there was great excitement in rural America over the installation of ethanol plants. Corn prices were rising, and everyone wanted in on the game.<\/p>\n
Corn prices rose all right, but there’s one little problem that someone failed to consider: what are we going to feed our beef cattle? Our dairy cattle? With this year’s drought, in the Southeast, hay is downright scarce. Cattlemen are struggling, selling off their herds because they can’t afford to feed them.<\/p>\n
The New York Times has a good piece today<\/a> about the upheaval in ethanol, but they don’t devote more than a sentence or two — buried in the third page — to the effect that ethanol production is having on other food prices. Most of their focus is the instability in pricing, due to the rapid ramp-up of production capability with lesser development in getting the ethanol to the blending and resale points. <\/p>\n As ethanol competes for corn, however, corn as food becomes more expensive, but so does beef (which is fed corn), chicken (which are fed corn), pork, milk, eggs, butter, cheese, and so many of the staples on which we depend.<\/p>\n At least NPR has picked up<\/a> on the problem. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just last year, there was great excitement in rural America over the installation of ethanol plants. Corn prices were rising, and everyone wanted in on the game. Corn prices rose all right, but there’s one little problem that someone failed … Continue reading