Many researchers have found that the production of ethanol consumes more energy than it yields. Michael Grunwald, a qualified science journalist, has reported that one person could be fed 365 days "on the corn needed to fill an ethanol-fueled SUV" He further reports that though "hyped as an eco-friendly fuel, ethanol increases global warming, destroys forests and inflates food prices."
Recent articles blame subsidized ethanol production for the nearly 200% increase in milk prices since, since the price of fuel has driven up the costs to cultivate, grow, harvest, ship, refine, bring to market, etc, all commodities including, but not limited to, milk.
Articles also blame the presence of speculators, and the recent growing interest in the commodities market by investors who have been scared away from a falling stock market.
Ethanol production uses the starch portion of corn.
Which is why I would be more in favor of producing Methanol from say garbage or wood chips rather than corn based Ethanol.
But.. the government and the media will not let that ever to happen
There are arguments on both sides of that statement, dependent on which side of the ethanol/no ethanol lobby one sits.
Actually, corn based ethanol uses much more energy to produce than ethanol derived from switchgrass and other materials.
Milk prices have gone up because of USDA regulations requiring the milking parlor to be labratory clean. They require expensive testing of milk before it can be loaded on a truck to go to the dairy. Milk prices have gone up because farmers are shifting to more profitable processes that don’t require a 24/7/365 day a year committment.
When my granddad milked his cows we marched the cow into a stall in the barn. Fed it some corn and hay so it would stand still. wiped off the nipples with a soapy cloth, and squeezed the milk into a bucket on the dirt floor. We poured the milk into a couple 5 gallon cans that were picked up daily. No refrigeration was required. no filtration. And when the guy picked up the milk in his unrefrigerated tank truck, he would always throw out a piece of bubble gum or hard candy.
We used to make fresh butter and drink the milk. Nobody got sick. Now they have all these standards required pre processing that are just expensive overkill. I know several dairy farms who have quit, including a brother in law. Why?
Can’t afford the expensive government regulations. Concrete floors and cool storage are not good enough. They want the walls painted white, and hourly temperature readings on the coolers. A certain kind of light. Wash the floor after every cow is finished. Sterilize the equipment. Have a tv for every cow....ok thats not true, but you should get the point. It isn’t about the corn the farmer feeds the cow that adds cost to the milk. What the farm gets of the overall price of a gallon of milk is very small. Yet they assume all the risk. Nor do they get a pension for processing the milk like the dairy workers get.
Oh and I suppose all the cheap milk being imported from China has nothing to do with higher milk prices when domestic dairys can’t compete? And what was that deadly chemical in Chinese milk that American farmers would never find in their milk???