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.

[junta]

Maybe the Zero Pop Growth cult will make a comeback from its exile. (it did succeed in some fashion with fewer white college professors producing children)

[Free Vulcan]

Wheat acreage has fallen dramatically over the last 20 years, but production has stayed relatively the same.

Most of that went to soybeans, not corn. Cotton and sorghum acreage have also fallen. Corn and soybeans have made up the difference, but at about 2-to-1 in favor of soybeans. Farmers ditched out of wheat because we stopped getting the winter cover of snow. They got tired of losing crops.

[Western Phil]

Don’t confuse the issue with facts.

[Western Phil]

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

I don't remember if that was a dry year or not. It might be that the Asian and Russian economies hadn't tanked yet. They were good customers for a while.

I bet all the farmers wish they hadn't sold their corn at harvest.

[SunkenCiv]

IOW, according to this, no one is smart enough to plant more corn to meet rising demand -- even though it's supposedly been subsidized by the government for years. A couple of years ago some nimrod around here claimed that the "ethanol subsidy" had created a shortage of corn in Mexico; lately the "ethanol subsidy" has been blamed for the jihadist-incited riots in Egypt.

• The Bum Rap on Biofuels
• Campaign to vilify ethanol revealed

[RipSawyer]

Some wise person whose name I cannot come up with said that the only legitimate job of government is to protect the citizens against criminals but inevitably the government USURPS the function of the criminal and becomes a greater danger to the citizens than the criminals could ever be.

I rank that as one of the most clear, concise and BRILLIANTLY STATED TRUTHS ever written. It also seems to rank as one of if not THE most obvious fact that is so simple and so obvious that most people can simply never comprehend it, they keep looking to the government for solutions when a little reflection should tell anyone that the government is not in the solution business, they are in the business of creating problems. Most government is simply a legalized version of the old Mafia “protection” racket. The three most often repeated lies are, the check is in the mail, I am from the government and I am here to help you and...the third one is a little too bawdy to list here.

[reader25]

Right, we are making gasoline additives for clean energy instead of feeding people. Government program run amok.

[PatriotGirl827]

bookmark

[CommieCutter]

,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.

Yep. And for some reason you can't get anyone to listen to this fact.