>>>>>B******t. Go to the Department of Agriculture and look up the crop statistics for the last few years. <<<<<
Ethanol to take 30 pct of U.S. corn crop in 2012: GAO
Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:18pm EDT
By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Almost a third of the U.S. corn crop will be used in five years to produce fuel ethanol, possibly raising animal feed costs for farmers and meat prices for consumers, a new government report warned on Monday.
Assuming U.S. ethanol production continues to expand to the Energy Department’s projected 11.2 billion gallons by 2012, about 30 percent of the corn crop will be needed for the fuel supply, according to the Government Accountability Office.
“Using more corn for energy production will likely exert additional upward pressure on corn prices, potentially influencing livestock feed markets and meat prices,” the GAO said in a report to Congress.
About 27 percent of this year’s corn crop will be used to make ethanol, according to the Agriculture Department. Corn prices are projected to average between $3 and $3.40 a bushel, making up an estimated 74 percent of the cost of producing ethanol, the GAO said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1149215820070611
Note the word "potentially" in this crap. If you actually take the time to look back at the corn crop and the various price increases, you will see that the increases are, in many cases MORE THAN THE ENTIRE COST OF THE CORN IN THE END PRODUCT. There is no way in hell that such increases are driven by any real "supply and demand" equation. This is speculation, pure and simple.
I thought that ethanol (HFCS, actually) was a waste product of the production of animal feed. The feed manufacturers needed a use for this by-product, and started to sell it as a sugar substitute, which is why it’s in everything we eat now. If you have a corn allergy, it’s quite hard to find anything processed that you can actually eat.
Now they are claiming this waste product is a food?