At $7 - $8 per bushel, farmers will produce all the corn they possibly can; at $2 - $3, they'll only produce what the government pays them to.
Exactly.
There’s 20 miilion more acres planted in corn than there was a few years ago thanks to increased demand (and price) due to ethanol.
Where would we be during this so-called shortage without those millions of extra acres?
I come from a farm family.
Farmers produce that which gets them the largest profit.
In the sixties and early seventies we grew sugar beets. Then in the late 70s it became soy beans.
Now with the government pushing corn ethanol farmers are planting every field they can with Corn because that is the biggest profit maker. The problem with this is that the demand for corn by ethanol distillers is pricing (for now) cattle farmers out of the consumers of corn market. Eventually the price of meat will rise to the point that cattle farmers will again be able to sell meat at a profit. Unfortunately that price may well be above what the lower middle class can afford.
If the ethanol mandate goes away the price of corn will fall. With lower prices less corn will be grown but there will still be a demand for corn. The amount of corn grown will eventually fit the demand.
We must all remember that it is not only meat that will cost more there is also corn syrup, corn sugar and corn oil. Then there are of course all of the things made with these products.
Ethanol must die.
Let the market determine the price and the amount produced. Supply and Demand. It works every time.