World starves as Americans burn food to stay on the road

[IassaFTots]

I want to turn the entire NASCAR world upside down by installing a right turn signal in one of the cars that never quits blinking.

I know you got one but you need another!

 

[MrsSmith]

Corn for biofuel?

Source

Ethanol Facts:
Food vs. Fuel

...

Energy costs have a much greater impact on consumer food costs as they impact every single food product on the shelf,” said Urbanchuk.  “Energy is required to produce, process, package and ship each food item. Conversely, corn prices impact just a small segment of the food market as not all products rely on corn for production.  While it may be more sensational to lay the blame for rising food costs on corn prices, the facts don’t support that conclusion.  By a factor of two-to-one, energy prices are the chief factor determining what American families pay at the grocery store.”

...

Ethanol production does not reduce the amount of food available for human consumption.  Ethanol is produced from field corn which is primarily fed to livestock and is undigestible by humans in its raw form. The ethanol production process produces not only fuel but valuable livestock feed products.

Every 56-pound bushel of corn used in the dry mill ethanol process yields 18 pounds of distillers grains, a good source of energy and protein for livestock and poultry. Similarly, a bushel of corn in the wet mill ethanol process creates 13.5 pounds of corn gluten feed and 2.6 pounds of high-protein corn gluten meal, as well as corn oil used in food processing.

...

It also is important to remember the amount of field corn actually used for human food is just a small fraction of the total corn supply. For example, cereal accounted for just over one percent of total corn use in 2005. 

...

The overwhelming majority of U.S. corn, including exported corn, feeds livestock—not humans.  There is a popular misconception that corn is exported from the U.S. to feed those in malnourished countries, and thus ethanol use will diminish exports to these countries. The truth is the majority of corn exports are used to feed livestock in developed countries. 


...

Ethanol production from other nontraditional sources continues to grow.  An increasing amount of ethanol is produced from nontraditional feedstocks such as waste products from the beverage, food and forestry industries. In the very near future we will also produce ethanol from agricultural residues such as rice straw, sugar cane bagasse and corn stover, municipal solid waste, and energy crops such as switchgrass.

[Doc]

^I'm not certain MrsSmith if you are, or are not attempting to make a case for ethanol as a fuel.....

If you are, do some research on manufactured efficiency and equivalent costs.......when you can produce ethanol without it consuming more energy to make than it yields in use......AND, when you can deliver it to  the pump for 60% of the cost of gasoline (the usage efficiency loss).......come talk to us.....

Otherwise, it's just a "green" pipedream that has no basis in engineering reality.......political BS.

doc

[MrsSmith]

^I'm not certain MrsSmith if you are, or are not attempting to make a case for ethanol as a fuel.....

If you are, do some research on manufactured efficiency and equivalent costs.......when you can produce ethanol without it consuming more energy to make than it yields in use......AND, when you can deliver it to  the pump for 60% of the cost of gasoline (the usage efficiency loss).......come talk to us.....

Otherwise, it's just a "green" pipedream that has no basis in engineering reality.......political BS.

doc

I am not making the case for ethanol as fuel.  What I am arguing is ethanol production does not decrease overall food, not for humans and not for animals.  Bad weather and high energy prices are causing food to cost more, not the production of a product that does not use the "feed" part of the grain, but rather produces high quality animal feed from the leftovers.

[MrsSmith]

Reference period:    2007
   Source:    NASS Crop Production
   Data:    Total:          403,704,443    Metric Tonnes
       
      Barley    -------------------5,229,590    Metric Tonnes    240.00    
      Corn for Grain    ----------307,385,600    Metric Tonnes    12.00    
      Oats    -------------------1,293,790    Metric Tonnes    89.00    
      Proso Millet    ---------------337,470    Metric Tonnes    14.00    
      Rice    -------------------------9,241,173    Metric Tonnes    203.00    
      Rye    ---------------------------202,680    Metric Tonnes    7.00    
      Sorghum for Grain    -----11,998,040    Metric Tonnes    472.00    
      Wheat, All    ------------68,016,100    Metric Tonnes    2.00    
   Link:    See

(Production, Crops) Oilseeds
-    Reference period:    2007
   Source:    NASS Crop Production
   Data:    Total:    89,504    '000 metric tonnes       
         89,504,413    Metric Tonnes       
      Canola    655,470    Metric Tonnes    1.00    
      Cottonseed    3,901,167    Metric Tonnes    4,300.00    
      Flaxseed    145,190    Metric Tonnes    5.00    
      Mustard Seed    18,713    Metric Tonnes    41.00    
      Peanuts    2,341,626    Metric Tonnes    5.00    
      Rapeseed    136    Metric Tonnes    300.00    
      Safflower    140,810    Metric Tonnes    310.00    
      Soybeans for Beans----------    80,748,727    Metric Tonnes    2.00    
      Sunflower    1,552,575    Metric Tonnes    3.00


2003
   Source:    NASS Crop Production, Field Crops Final Estimates 2002-2007
   Data:    Total:    ---------348,179,760    Metric Tonnes
      
      Barley    -------------------6,058,900    Metric Tonnes       
      Corn for Grain    ----------256,229,020    Metric Tonnes       
      Oats    -------------------2,095,710    Metric Tonnes       
      Proso Millet    ---------------259,680    Metric Tonnes       
      Rice -------------------------   9,067,180    Metric Tonnes       
      Rye    ---------------------------219,310    Metric Tonnes       
      Sorghum for Grain    ----10,445,440    Metric Tonnes       
      Wheat, All    ----------63,804,520    Metric Tonnes       
   Link:    See

(Production, Crops) Oilseeds
-    Reference period:    2003
   Source:    NASS Crop Production, Field Crops Final Estimates 2002-2007
   Data:    Total:    77,031    '000 metric tonnes       
         77,030,740    Metric Tonnes       
      Canola    685,950    Metric Tonnes       
      Cottonseed    6,046,020    Metric Tonnes       
      Flaxseed    267,120    Metric Tonnes       
      Mustard Seed    35,100    Metric Tonnes       
      Peanuts    1,879,750    Metric Tonnes       
      Rapeseed    520    Metric Tonnes       
      Safflower    124,630    Metric Tonnes       
      Soybeans for Beans    -------------66,782,720    Metric Tonnes       
      Sunflower    1,208,930    Metric Tonnes



http://webpage.siap.gob.mx/ienglish.php

Crop productions 2003 and 2007.  I haven't found any site with newer information.  I do see some changes in the highlighted grains.  Enough to cause world starvation? 


http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/al/usa_crop_prod.htm

Oats and soybeans are grown in the same area as corn, one has declined, the other has risen.  Barley production fell despite sharing no land with corn production.   


I can't see any honest way to make a case that ethanol is causing human starvation.  If anything, the energy policy of our Congress and President have more to do with it.  High energy costs at every stage of food production and transportation have far more to do with the final price of food than the portion of corn devoted to a "green" fuel.

[Doc]

I am not making the case for ethanol as fuel. What I am arguing is ethanol production does not decrease overall food, not for humans and not for animals. Bad weather and high energy prices are causing food to cost more, not the production of a product that does not use the "feed" part of the grain, but rather produces high quality animal feed from the leftovers.

OK....now I understand, you are disputing the premise that using food crops for fuel isn't causing starvation.......I'll agree with that.  I DO however, believe that production of a useless fuel like ethanol from grain distorts market prices and changes prices negatively for other commodities. The best example being that ethanol demand for corn will eventually raise the price of beef.

Overall, it is a poor use of both grain crops and productive land resources.

If anything is causing starvation in the world it is much more likely to be a function of price and distribution, not production.

doc

[JohnnyReb]

Bio-diesel will cause hunger....I am living proof.

I was sitting at a stoplight Friday and I could smell the best damn onion rings smell EVER....but no eating joints anywhere close to where I was. As I drove down the road I could still smell them... damn I was getting hungry. Finally passed the fuel delivery truck in front of me and the smell went away. I dropped back behind him due to traffic and the smell was back. Then I saw it, sticker said he was burning biodiesel....America will get fatter and the world will get hungrier....