(no subject)

[frandroid]

Next year, the use of US corn for ethanol is forecast to rise to 114 million tonnes - nearly a third of the whole projected US crop. American cars now burn enough corn to cover all the import needs of the 82 nations classed by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as "low-income food-deficit countries". There could scarcely be a better way to starve the poor.

Source, thanks missioncontrol. The article also compiles a list of food riots so far this year.

Comments

[everynewmorning.livejournal.com]

Beyond that is the absolutely infuriating effect the rise of corn ethanol specifically is having on agricultural practice in the plains - particularly Nebraska and South Dakota. I've always been conflicted about the use of the Ogallala aquifer in corn farming since farmers are caught between the additional cost and resource expenditure by using reclaimed water OR draining the vast Ogallala aquifer...the big ass pool underneath the corn belt (as if, quoting a Nebraska senator "God put the damn thing there for us to use").

Corn ethanol production is expensive enough and thus producers are draining the aquifer something like 15-20 times faster since so much water is expended in producing ethanol.

I mean, it's been there for only like...5 million years - let's see if we can use the fucking thing up in 30 years, shall we? I'm sure it was going to go bad or dry up if we just left it there anyway...

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

...and God wouldn't want you to tax His resources, either. Amen.

Thanks for naming that aquifer for me, it's been nagging me recently.

[everynewmorning.livejournal.com]

The Ogallala is basically one of the only things distinguishing Nebraska from other states that's actually good (No, our exceptionally high residual KKK membership, unicameral legislature and trigger-happy first ban on gay marriage are not, even in Nebraska, considering "good")...so everyone high school student has to right this bizarre letter of praise essentially addressed directly TO the Ogallala itself. Thankfully, Bush allowed Nebraska to make it part of the No Child Left Behind standardized testing. So yeah, ask anyone from my home state and they should know something about it.

But hey, the tap water in Nebraska tastes holy-fuck amazing as a result. (That hasn't helped tourism, but hey...)

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

You're intriguing me. Next hitch-hiking trip I do in the U.S., I'm detouring by there.

Sadly, it seems more and more likely that I won't go on a hitch-hiking trip ever again.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

Should you go to Nebraska again, could you bring back some of this holy-fuck amazing water? =)