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At the Copenhagen summit, there isn't a negotiating process to reach a climate pact. There are two. In 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, representatives from more than 150 nations—signed an agreement giving birth to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. [It] began holding sessions called the Conference of the Parties—COPs. What's happening in Copenhagen is the 15th such session, hence the nickname COP15. In 1997, COP3 established the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that set binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions for 37 industrialized countries (cutting emissions 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012). At...

Crops such as Corn, Cotton and Soybeans Affected If it has seemed like it has been raining unusually often and by quite a bit, you are right. The months during harvest time (August/September/October) are traditionally the driest of year for most locations east of the Rockies, especially across the corn and cotton belts. This season, though, has been an exception. Here is a slide show that shows how the precipitation of these months has compared to normal.

David Corn, one of America’s greatest writers, has finally decided that Governor Palin has had it far too easy a over the last few months. Formerly Washington editor of “The Nation” (the “flagship of the left”) and now with “Mother Jones Magazine" the courageous Corn, who once astonished the world by calling President George W Bush a liar, believes it is time to shame a sycophantic and cowed media into showing up the Governor for what she really is.

Christmas in October for Ethanol Traders and analysts are paying attention to the ethanol industry's renewed life and has resulted in a boost to the corn market, according to the Wall Street Journal. Profit markets are wider to the delight of ethanol producers who have operated in the red in recent years. In fact just last week, advancing energy prices pushed ethanol margins up a dollar per bushel, almost doubled margins from the week before. Ethanol plants are procuring more corn in order to ramp up production in order to pay down their debt. The renewed and optimistic predictions for...

Hartland, Minn. (Freeborn County) I was eating sweet corn on a cruise ship. I knew I shouldn't have been eating it. The food on the ship had been unbelievably good, but I'm a Minnesotan. I have been spoiled. The only food I found lacking on the ship was that sweet corn. I'm sure it was good, but I have high standards when it comes to sweet corn. I once worked at Birds Eye. We all worked at Birds Eye - at least, it seemed that way. Working at Birds Eye was a rite of passage. When I was between grass...

At a time when the trade is questioning USDA’s 2009/10 prospective demand for US corn, especially in the feed use column, it is refreshing to note the continued upward demand for corn for ethanol. According to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the United States is expected to manufacture 12 billion gallons of ethanol for calendar year 2010, or 14.3% more than a year earlier requirement of 10.5 billion gallons in calendar year 2009. As you are able to view the trend increase for corn use for ethanol continues to be impressive vs feed use and equally important...

Get ready for the sugar shock. Raw sugar futures have almost doubled this year amid fears of a shortage, which could lead to slightly higher prices for candy but also a spike in the price of ethanol. Much of the rise in sugar prices has come in just the past few weeks as drier-than-normal weather in India, the world's largest consumer, threatens to leave production there far short of demand... The bigger impact may be felt at the gas pump, where the sugar shortfall is likely to drive up the cost of ethanol, increasingly used as a substitute for gasoline....

Prehistoric communities in one part of Peru's Andes Mountains may have gone from maize to amazingly complex. Bioarchaeologist Brian Finucane's analyses of human skeletons excavated in this region indicate that people living there 2,800 years ago regularly ate maize. This is the earliest evidence for maize as a staple food in the rugged terrain of highland Peru, he says. Maize agriculture stimulated ancient population growth in the Andes and allowed a complex society, the Wari, to develop, Finucane contends in the August Current Anthropology. Wari society included a central government and other elements of modern states. It lasted from around...

I heard about King Corn when Nora Gedgaudas interviewed Curt Ellis, one of the film’s creators. Ellis and his co-creator Ian Cheney decided to learn about the dominance of corn in our food supply by growing an acre of corn in Iowa, then following where corn goes after it’s harvested. The short answer is: it goes into pretty much everything. People like to blame the big, bad food industry for turning us into a nation of corn-eaters, but it was clear to me (and yes, this fits nicely with my own bias) that the problem is rooted in stupid government...

Saudi Arabia just announced it was shutting down half of its oil production. It also says it will keep the capacity shut down for at least a year – maybe longer. The move would wipe out about five percent of the world’s oil supply overnight. What do you expect to happen? It would be bedlam. Oil prices would skyrocket. The price would jump to $100 or more within minutes. Prices would spike even if demand continued to dip and oil stockpiles stayed high. Gasoline prices would climb too. Every politician would vow to do something about it. Every major media...

The government said last week that wholesale prices for food spiked in April — the biggest monthly jump in more than a year. Beef, pork, vegetables, fruit, eggs all rose in price. Some economists saw the increases as good news: it eased their fears of a deflationary spiral. But do American consumers, now experts in penny-pinching, have to worry about higher prices down the line? Or do last month’s figures simply represent normal volatility, with price ups and downs essentially even for the year or even down? What factors put pressure on food costs?

The corn ethanol scam is back and if you are driving an older-model vehicle, you should prepare for the worst. An ethanol lobbying group has petitioned the EPA to raise the ethanol content of gasoline to 15 per cent - - which will reduce fuel mileage and may damage older vehicles.

Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed renewable-fuel standards that could reduce the $3 billion a year in federal tax breaks given to producers of corn-based ethanol. The move sets the stage for a major battle between Midwest grain producers and environmentalists who say the gasoline additive actually worsens global warming. For much of the last decade, federal officials have touted the potential of corn ethanol as a substitute for gasoline and a tool for reducing global warming and foreign oil dependence. However, environmentalists and others have questioned the wisdom of that support. A recent Congressional Budget...

Minnesota should get out of the business of subsidizing the state's ethanol industry, the Legislative Auditor's office said today. In a report on the sometimes-controversial program that pays producers of corn-based ethanol, the office found that the subsidy program fails to maximize the energy and environmental benefits of the fuel. The money, $93 million paid to producers over the past five years, could be better spent on other programs that do a better job of reaching those goals, it concluded. Plus, at a time of crushing state budget deficits, the $44 million expected to be spent on the program through...

At a time when water supplies are scarce in many areas of the United States, scientists in Minnesota are reporting that production of bioethanol — often regarded as the clean-burning energy source of the future — may consume up to three times more water than previously thought. Sangwon Suh and colleagues point out in the new study that annual bioethanol production in the U.S. is currently about 9 billion gallons and note that experts expect it to increase in the near future. The growing demand for bioethanol, particularly corn-based ethanol, has sparked significant concerns among researchers about its impact on...

Global warming could rob the U.S. economy of $1.4 billion a year in lost corn production alone, a national environmental group estimated in a report released Thursday. The Environment America study, based on government and university data, projects that warming temperatures will reduce yields of the nation's biggest crop by 3% in the Midwest and the South compared with projected yields without further global warming. Iowa would be hit hardest, losing $259 million a year in corn revenues, followed by Illinois at $243 million. California, which leads the country in agriculture but doesn't grow much corn, would take an estimated...

WASHINGTON – The increased use of ethanol could cost the government up to $900 million for food stamps and child nutrition programs, a congressional report says. Higher use of the corn-based fuel additive accounted for about 10 percent to 15 percent of the rise in food prices between April 2007 and April 2008 .. The CBO said other factors, such as skyrocketing energy costs, had an even greater impact than ethanol on food prices during that period. .. Ethanol's impact on future food prices is uncertain, the report says, because an increased supply of corn has the potential to eventually...

One might imagine that the old adage about something too good to be true would have sunk in by now. But in the realm of biofuels, hope springs eternal. With more than $240 million in Department of Energy funding, six pilot projects using "cellulosic materials" to produce biofuels are under way. Despite the prospect of technical breakthroughs, none have produced biofuels on commercial terms. This is especially unsettling given the federal order to blend 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022, of which 21 billion are mandated to be cellulose-based. Advocates of making these fuels from anything and everything abound:...

The corn-ethanol industry, which wouldn't exist without government intervention, his hired former General turned influence-peddler Wes Clark to lobby for an increase in the proportion of corn ethanol in motor fuel, from 10% to 15%. Corn ethanol is at best fuel-INefficient, raising the cost of driving needlessly, and at worst, it will damage your vehicle. And you get to pay for it!

A few years ago, the government mandated ethanol as a gasoline additive, in an attempt to make gasoline more ecofriendly, and as a replacement for MTBE, which has been shown to cause cancer. Problem with that is, there is no solid proof that leaking ethanol is any better than leaking lead or MTBE. Problem two, is it really economically viable? The only reason it is cost effective now, is because of government subsidies. For each billion ethanol-equivalent gallons of fuel produced and combusted in the US, the combined climate-change and health costs are $469 million for gasoline, $472–952 million for...

Talk about extreme makeover: Popcorn is suddenly sprouting colors and flavors you never saw at the old Bijou theater downtown. At Vic's Corn Popper, 1616 Shipyard Blvd., in addition to the regular White Gourmet or Caramel, you can order popcorn in Jalapeno, Ranch, Red Hot Cinnamon, Pink Vanilla Cotton Candy, Peanut Butter Chocolate Caramel, plain old Chocolate Caramel or Fruitilicious, which "kind of tastes like Froot Loops," according to co-owner Susan Beauchamp.

DES MOINES, Iowa - President-elect Barack Obama has selected former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary, according to Democratic sources familiar with the selection process. Obama will announce the appointment of Vilsack on Wednesday, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the selection before the announcement. Vilsack will be the fourth former opponent of Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries to join his new administration. Others include Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been tapped for secretary of state, and New Mexico Gov. Bill...

Where I live (the middle of nowhere), we were at the bottom of the list for having the 90% gasoline 10% corn ethanol brew at our local filling stations. This well-intentioned big-government mandate did eventually find us, however, and because I keep records of car mileage and fuel purchases, I can now affirm that the gas-ethanol mix does reduce fuel mileage. So I did some calculating, and . . . Oops! Looks like I’m "saving" the environment at the rate of using four additional 4 gallons of high-test per annum. And in the process, causing hunger in third-world countries because...

Via the Standard, you read the Byron York article. Now see the movie! Featuring an introduction by Mother Jones lefty David Corn, lamenting the sad, sad state of American politics in which irresponsible leaders scapegoat media outlets and incite an angry rabble.

Farmer Creates Corn Maze Out of Sarah Palin's ImageLast Edited: Wednesday, 24 Sep 2008, 11:39 PM EDT A farm in Ohio has created a corn maze of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. (MyFoxToledo) WHITEHOUSE, Ohio -- From the helicopter you can see it clearly, Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's face in a corn maze (video: MyFoxToledo). Duke Wheeler of Whitehouse, Ohio, who owns the Butterfly House and surrounding farm, said he did it to bring people to the farm this fall. **SNIP** It wasn't an easy process. "We contracted with an artist in Idaho who drew the picture...

Biden Ranked Coal Ahead Of High-Fructose Corn Syrup And A Terrorist Attack As More Likely To Contribute To The Death Of An Average American. HBO's Bill Maher:

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Up to 12.3 billion bushels of corn are expected to be harvested this season in the U.S., despite the recent Mississippi flooding which inundated many farms in the Midwest. With 600 million extra bushels for the summer harvest, it will be the second-highest corn yield on record, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Prior to the confirmation of the bountiful harvest, there were fears the Midwest flooding could lead to food shortages and major economic losses for American farmers. Before perfect weather was enjoyed by farmers recently, corn future prices rose to $8 per bushel. On...

Des Moines, Iowa (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain didn't mince words Friday at the Iowa State Fair, telling corn producers he didn't want to subsidize their ethanol but was eager to help market farm products around the world. "My friends, we will disagree on a specific issue and that's healthy," McCain said as he stood near bales of straw at one of the nation's premier farming showcases. "I believe in renewable fuels. I don't believe in ethanol subsidies, but I believe in renewable fuels." McCain has never been shy about speaking against subsidizing ethanol when he is in...

Call Congress back to have an up-or-down vote on a comprehensive energy bill which includes expanded drilling for oil. There is a petition here: http://www.callbackcongress.com/

2008 Corn & Soybean Yield Expectations In Midwest Study URBANA, Ill. - A new study by University of Illinois agricultural economists projects that average 2008 corn yields could be reduced by 2.9 bushels per acre in Illinois, 3.5 bushels in Indiana, and 6.3 bushels in Iowa due to later-than-normal planting and above-normal precipitation in May. Soybean yields may be down 1.1 bushels, 0.4 bushels, and 1.0 bushels per acre, respectively, in those same states for the same reasons.

The Guardian claims to have a confidential World Bank report which concludes that biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% — more than the IMF estimate of 20-30%, and far more than the US government’s claims that biofuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. The Guardian and the New York Times suggest the World Bank report is being held back to avoid conflict with the US, though bank chief Robert Zoellick has been vocal about the problem.The Guardian’s reporting on this is fairly shoddy, throwing around percentages without a time frame. Nevertheless, it is fairly clear...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., July 1 (UPI) -- A Purdue economist says U.S. corn demand is exceeding supply and, combined with Midwestern flood losses, ethanol production might soon stall. Purdue University agricultural economist Chris Hurt says with higher corn prices, fewer ethanol producers can afford the feedstock. In turn, domestic livestock producers and foreign buyers are finding it more difficult to obtain grain. "Everybody is trying to evaluate how many bushels of corn we've lost because of weather-related damage, what the implications are for prices and who can pay these high prices," said Hurt. Using a similar 1993 Midwest flood as...

Maize (Corn) May Have Been Domesticated In Mexico As Early As 10,000 Years AgoVarious unusually colored and shaped maize from Latin America. (Credit: Photo by Keith Weller / courtesy of USDA/Agricultural Research Service) ScienceDaily (June 27, 2008) — The ancestors of maize originally grew wild in Mexico and were radically different from the plant that is now one of the most important crops in the world. While the evidence is clear that maize was first domesticated in Mexico, the time and location of the earliest domestication and dispersal events are still in dispute. Now, in addition to more traditional macrobotanical...

USDA to report acreage; analysts warn of $10 corn and possible supply crisisSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Recent Midwest flooding may have damaged millions of acres of corn crops, analysts expect the U.S. Department of Agriculture to say in its crop acreage report slated for release Monday. The loss of acreage could slash U.S. corn production and push the 2009 season's year-end stocks to the lowest level since just after World War II, analysts said. And the real damage is likely to be even worse than what Monday's 8:30 a.m. EDT report will show, as it's still too early to evaluate...

Ancient Mexican maize varieties Maize was first domesticated in the highlands of Mexico about 10,000 years ago and is now one of the most important crop plants in the world. It is a member of the grass family, which also hosts the world's other major crops including rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, and sugar cane. As early agriculturalists selected plants with desirable traits, they were also selecting genes important for transforming a wild grass into a food plant. Since that time, Mexican farmers have created thousands of varieties suitable for cultivation in the numerous environments in the Mexican landscape—from dry, temperate...

Des Moines, IA (AHN) - The marine dead zone resulting from the Midwest flooding is expected to expand to over 10,000 square miles, according to researchers from the Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. The water in the dead zone, approximately the size of Massachusetts, does not have sufficient oxygen at depth to support marine life. Since 1990, the zone, located off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas, usually covers 6,000 square miles, varying according to the flow of the Mississippi River. Its low oxygen content is caused by the presence of large algae blooms which feeds...

While Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama insists drilling for more oil in off-limits federal lands won’t help gas prices come down, there’s at least one thing that would: lifting tariffs on imported ethanol. Problem is, the Illinois senator’s ties to the powerful U.S. ethanol lobby would prevent him from doing it. “I got to tell you – ethanol mafia is a powerful thing, Jim,” CNBC “Street Signs” host Erin Burnett said June 23, noting all the breaks the industry is getting from the U.S. government. “The ethanol emperors – or they are the mafia.” “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer...

When VeraSun Energy inaugurated a new ethanol processing plant last summer in Charles City, Iowa, some of that industry’s most prominent boosters showed up. Leaders of the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, for instance, came to help cut the ribbon — and so did Senator Barack Obama. Skip to next paragraph Related To Ease Gas Prices, Obama Eyes Speculators (June 23, 2008) Times Topics: Barack Obama Blog The Caucus The latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion. Election Guide More Politics News Then running far behind Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in name recognition...

As a farmer in North Central Illinois, I feel it is imperative that I respond to the most recent deluge of negative media attention, and letters to newspapers, attacking ethanol. We must look past the fear mongering rhetoric that is being distributed by the big oil companies and the multinational food processors. Just 18 months ago the price paid to farmers for corn in Bureau County , Ill. was only $1.88 per bushel (56 pounds of food for $1.88!). At that time it cost me well over $3.00 to raise corn. Today the price paid for corn in the county...

Here's the next chapter in BOR's war against big oil and the evil "speculators". In a discussion about oil with Karl Rove, BOR said we don't need corn. Karl compared the oil market to other commodities, basically saying the oil market works the same way other commodities work: "Look there are 30 commodities that trade in the same way you are talking about........ like corn, palm oil, you name it." BOR didn't like that and said, "but there is a difference between corn, and soy beans, and orange juice, and all these other things. You don't need them, you don't...

Corn hits record, soy rallies as floods expand By Julie Ingwersen and Nigel Hunt Thu Jun 12, 1:39 PM ET Corn prices soared to record highs on Thursday as flooding damaged crop prospects in the U.S. Midwest, heightening concern over shrinking stocks and fueling the market's relentless advance. Torrential rains have swept across the Midwest, the key growing region in the world's top producer, resulting in floods which have destroyed homes, as well as thousands of acres of corn and soybeans. "It's the worst in recent memory, at a time when demand has never been higher," said Gavin Maguire, analyst...

Dr. John White is the founder & president of White Technical Research, a consulting firm serving the food and beverage industry for nearly 15 years. He has worked with high fructose corn syrup for more than 25 years, and his expertise has been quoted by numerous news outlets. Organizations such as the American Council on Science and Health in Washington, D.C., the Institute of Food Technologists in Atlanta, and most recently the Corn Refiners Association have turned to him and his expertise on the sweetener for answers. Now, QSR talks with him to set the record straight about the similarities...

First electricity rates jumped, now gasoline prices are galloping up, and the next sticker shock could be chicken prices, which are likely to go up at least 10 percent by the summer. That’s what James Perdue, chairman of the East Coast’s largest poultry company, told members of the Maryland Economic Development Association on Tuesday morning. The culprit is the rising price of corn, which is the main source of chicken feed. More than a third of all corn is going to produce ethanol, a fuel added to or used instead of gasoline. “We’ve got to feed those chickens,” Perdue said....

Always read to the end of the report; that’s where the good stuff is. Case in point an obscure little stat was released on Friday with the not-quite-tantalizing title “Agricultural Prices”. Tables and tables of words with numbers after them – soybeans, price per bushel – wheat, percentage change year over year – imported fruits…exported nuts…you get the idea. If you do the shopping for your family as I do (don’t snicker, I also chop down trees and bench 300), you’re probably not surprised to find out that agricultural prices rose quite rapidly in May. In fact the monthly price...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Corn futures fell Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would open up 24 million conservation acres for grazing, a new tool the government is using to ease costs for livestock raisers. Corn for July delivery fell as much as 2% to $5.85 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade before settling down 0.9% at $5.92 a bushel. Late Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would allow livestock producers to use some lands normally protected by the Conservation Reserve Program to hay or forage after the primary nesting season for grass-nesting...

"In terms of renewable fuels, ethanol is the worst solution," Patzek says. "It has the highest energy cost with the least benefit."Ethanol is produced by fermenting renewable crops like corn or sugarcane. It may sound green, Patzek says, but that's because many scientists are not looking at the whole picture. According to his research, more fossil energy is used to produce ethanol than the energy contained within it. Patzek's ethanol critique began during a freshman seminar he taught in which he and his students calculated the energy balance of the biofuel. Taking into account the energy required to grow the...

Well, I’ll be doggoned. I never thought I’d see such outspoken opposition to ethanol from such unlikely sources – such as many of the politicians who helped create this monstrous and expensive fraud in the first place. Last Friday, a group of Republican senators, including presidential candidate John McCain, urged the Environmental Protection Agency to hold off enforcing legislation to increase ethanol production. There goes the Farm Belt vote! Even the August New York Times – which has never failed to support a government solution to every real or perceived problem on the planet – now says “it is time...

FOOD and Farming Minister Jeff Rooker has told farmers he is ‘pushing’ his Department to do more to encourage the uptake of anaerobic digestion on UK farms. Specifically, he is asking Defra to look at the possibility of providing assistance to farmers to meet the capital cost of connecting on-farm plants to the National Grid. The Minister is an enthusiast of the technology, which can convert slurry into electricity and fertiliser, and recently visited a Government-funded demonstration plant at Ludlow, Shropshire, that uses waste food and green material. But while the Government has made some moves to encourage uptake, Lord...

May 06, 2008, 4:00 a.m. Children of the CornLet's carefully examine the benefits — and beneficiaries — of ethanol. By David Freddoso For the first time since the United States government began subsidizing ethanol, its defenders are on the run. World hunger is chipping away at the image of one of America’s most-outrageous subsidies, even sympathetic politicians are being forced to admit that the biofuel industry has gone too far this time. “I’ve supported ethanol from the beginning,� Sen. Dick Durbin said (D., lll.) last week. Durbin represents the nation’s second-largest corn-producing state. “But we have to understand it’s...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked the government to cut "skyrocketing" food prices by waiving half of the renewable fuel standard for ethanol made from grain. The Republican governor from the oil-producing state said in a statement that such a waiver was "the best, quickest way" to ease rising food costs before lasting damage was done. "We're diversifying our state's energy portfolio at a rapid rate, but this misguided mandate is significantly affecting Texans' family food bill," he added. Perry said that over the last three years, the price of corn has shot up 138 percent around the world, while global...