US corn reserves hit lowest level in 15 years

Yahoo ^ | 2/9/11 | Christopher Leonard and Sarah Skidmore - AP

[NormsRevenge]

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- U.S. reserves of corn have hit their lowest level in more than 15 years, reflecting tighter supplies that will lead to higher food prices in 2011. Increasing demand for corn from the ethanol industry is a major reason for the decline.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday that the ethanol industry's projected orders this year rose 8.4 percent, to 13.01 billion bushels, after record-high production in December and January.

That means the United States will have about 675 million bushels of corn left over at the end of year. .. roughly 5 percent of all corn that will be consumed, the lowest surplus level since 1996.

[NormsRevenge]

Let them eat.. Arugula.

[null and void]

ping

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Burning food while more of the world goes hungry...

I thought Lefties were supposed to be against stuff like that?

I guess that was before they decided that the existence of other people is a burden on Mother Earth.

[FromLori]

Here’s another part of the story..

“Is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stoking inflation? Of course he is. Anyone with common sense knows that if you give $600 billion cash to the banks with no qualifications — as he did with the second round of quantitative easing — they will use it to speculate in the markets.”

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2011/02/04/bernanke-denies-causing-inflation/

[beethovenfan]

Put corn in our cars, let people starve, ruin our fuel systems and pollute the atmosphere. What’s not to like?

[Incorrigible]

Even Fidel Castro has stated that it’s crazy to use food for fuel.

[abbyg55]

FTA: "...the ethanol industry's projected orders this year rose 8.4 percent, to 13.01 billion bushels, after record-high production in December and January."

Let's see. Ethanol lowers gas mileage, clogs fuel filters, and is now causing a corn shortage, which will raise not only the price of corn but also of beef since farmers will have to pay more for feed corn. The more evidence that piles up that something shouldn't be done, the more determined liberals are to do it.

[ClearCase_guy]

I thought Lefties were supposed to be against stuff like that?

The Left is all about decreasing the surplus population. They promote a Culture of Death. Banning DDT? Pro-abortion? Decreasing food supplies? It's all part of the plan.

[Free Vulcan]

Man, we gotta quit burning our fructose sweetened soft drinks!

Wondering why reserves were so low in 1996, being that ethanol wasn’t a factor at that time?

[blackdog]

Wait until greenies discover that it's more efficient to render fat dead people into heating oil than it is distill corn or celulose plant matter into alchohols.

Think of the paradox? Watch out Michael Moore and Oprah!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

There you go ... trying to inject common sense and reality into a corn (and therefore ethanol) thread. LOL!

[blackdog]

Food, disease, and birth rates are far more effective weapons than the most advanced army in the world.

Now you know why Obamma wants your healthcare, family food supply, and offspring to be under government "protection".

[Crimson Elephant]

The US’s version of the “food crisis” is coming along right on schedule I suppose.

Detroit should be interesting in a few months.

[ClearCase_guy]

Government really is organized crime. It is a protection racket. “Nice store you have here. It would be a shame if something happened to it. You got kids? Well, maybe if you pay these taxes and follow these regulations, may everything will stay all nice and peaceful like, eh? You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

[The Comedian]

Well, I guess shrinking the food supply is a good way to achieve the Wookie's goal of smaller meals.

Today is a good day to die.
I didn't say for whom.

[blackdog]

And look at what they will do to those who won't buy their food, medicine, or education at the company store?

Randy Weaver and the Branch Davidians will remind you.

[Uncle Miltie]

Ethanol & Helicopter Ben Alert!

A two-fer!

[DryFly]

So, without actually entering the comex market, what’s the play here? ADM? Cargill?

[DakoKid]

“At his family-owned cattle feedlot, Couser said he witnesses first-hand that “food versus fuel” is an absolute myth. He delivers corn to the ethanol plant harvested on his farm, and then takes the co-product distillers grain home to incorporate into the feeding ration for his cattle. Not everyone realizes that only the starch portion of the corn kernel is used to make ethanol, and all the nutrients from the corn – fat, fiber, protein etc. – is returned to the feed/food supply in the form of distillers grain.” http://ethanol.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/08/distillers-grain-debunks-food-vs-fuel.html

I have driven by many ethanol plants, and not one has a huge pile of distillers grain setting around it.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Burning food while more of the world goes hungry... "

Nobody "goes hungry" because of ethanol. Production of ethanol from corn actually INCREASES the total food supply. The reason it does is that the corn used for ethanol is EXTRA corn planted over and above what farmers would normally produce for food use, and that the entire food value of that extra corn is NOT all converted to ethanol....only the carbohydrate fraction is. The protein and fat (oil) fraction are still around, and end up in the total food chain as, guess what, CATTLE FEED (well, I suspect some of it actually goes to pigs, chicken, and other livestock, but you get the point).