To whom are we selling this food? Do you mean the millions of bushels that are given to third world nations annually? The same SURPLUS (yes, that means excess) grain that we have been ruining third-world agriculture with. We over-produce, and their economies suffer. Can you grow food for free? Neither can they. For once, the cost of producing a bushel of corn has been less than the price it brought at market. That means profit for farmers, and that means that competitive African and South American agriculture might actually have some reason to exist.
As for ethanol, it is time to stop using research that was flawed and biased originally, and is now 30 years out-of-date. The public does not get to hear about the hundreds of (non-Big Oil sponsored) university studies that show it is very much energy positive, and the technology continues to get better every day.
Subsidies are another interesting topic. Do you know who gets the tax credits for use of Biofuels? The farmer? nope. The ethanol producer? nope. The oil company that blends the ethanol with gasoline? Yep. Farming has always been subsidized in the US, and that probably will not change. Make sure that you know where the money is really going.
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To whom are we selling this food? Do you mean the millions of bushels that are given to third world nations annually? The same SURPLUS (yes, that means excess) grain that we have been ruining third-world agriculture with. We over-produce, and their economies suffer. Can you grow food for free? Neither can they. For once, the cost of producing a bushel of corn has been less than the price it brought at market. That means profit for farmers, and that means that competitive African and South American agriculture might actually have some reason to exist.
As for ethanol, it is time to stop using research that was flawed and biased originally, and is now 30 years out-of-date. The public does not get to hear about the hundreds of (non-Big Oil sponsored) university studies that show it is very much energy positive, and the technology continues to get better every day.
Subsidies are another interesting topic. Do you know who gets the tax credits for use of Biofuels? The farmer? nope. The ethanol producer? nope. The oil company that blends the ethanol with gasoline? Yep. Farming has always been subsidized in the US, and that probably will not change. Make sure that you know where the money is really going.