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| Yes Jim, it is nice to see that corn farmers in many parts of the country have opportunities like that to market thier crop. But are we missing the bigger picture here? There is no way that our governments longer term goals can be met using only corn grain as a source of fuel/energy. There simply isn't enough corn to do it and still feed any livestock at all. There are all kinds of numbers being tossed around, most commonly it is reported that to replace 30% of the gas used TODAY would require 12.5 billion bu of corn. So we are then forced to consider other materials such as crop residue for ethanol production. If this technology becomes feasible it will likely be a runaway train as least for a while. Another "good thing" for agriculture??? Maybe. We all know that there is big money to be made in supplying energy to our growing population, obviously more than in supplying food right now. The bottom line is we need to try to avoid being short-sighted here and focus on new sources of energy which might actually meet our needs for the long haul, because as attractive as corn-based ethanol may be today, it can't cut it long-term. | |
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Driving in SD & Ethanol
