Farmers expected to plant less corn (Higher costs for consumers at grocery stores)

[seafan]

Farmers expected to plant less corn

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press Writer

March 31. 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Farmers are expected to plant less corn this year, according to the Department of Agriculture, and that could mean higher bills at the grocery store.

Corn prices have skyrocketed in recent years, helped by the burgeoning ethanol industry, which turns the crop into fuel, and rising worldwide demand for food. The higher prices have hurt poultry, beef and pork companies, who use corn to feed their animals.

Farmers are expected to plant 86 million acres of corn this year, the government predicted Monday, down 8 percent from 2007, when the amount of corn planted was the highest since World War II. The decreased supply could drive corn prices even higher - a cost for food producers that could be passed on to consumers.

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Though the ethanol industry is heavily subsidized and has contributed to the rise in prices, a decrease in corn production could hurt that business, too. Higher prices for the crop could be passed on to those filling their cars up with the renewable fuel.

The number of ethanol plants has increased from 50 in 1999 to 134 now with more being built, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. An average, 100 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant consumes about 33 million bushels of corn.

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But... but... but, Jeb Bush said last year that ethanol production wouldn't drive up international food prices.


Go away, Jeb. Just GO AWAY.

[frogcycle]

1. corn-to-ethanol should be stopped NOW

it is idiotic. A huge boondoggle to siphon money to agribusiness (can you say Halliburton? Blackwater? same thing - a taxpayer's money pump to the rich guys)

Put the focus on cellulosic ethanol production and actually accomplish something.

[DCKit]

2. Farmers are getting record prices for their corn, but they intend to plant less in 2008?

Unless it's simply because they can't afford the petroleum derived pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers (corn is a very needy, environmentally destructive crop), I don't see the business sense.

Why is hemp illegal?

[Viking12]

3. Record prices don't necessarily equal record profits

Corn is relatively expensive to grow so the return/acre may not be as lucrative. However, the attempt to chase high prices of other crops may backfire. One of the reason the prices escalated last year was because many other crops were taken out of production in favor of corn, causing shortages -- as more farmers return fields to soybeans, more product, lower prices.....

[kentauros]

4. Hemp is illegal because

in the DEA's "mind" the fact that there is a trace amount of THC, it is therefore illegal. Also consider the drug-testing industry and their sway with our government.

Personally, I think someone in the Hemp industries should step up about now and say that legalizing it would be a big boost to our economy. You'd think that kind of thing would sink in, especially the taxes they could procure from all of the highly profitable industries resulting from hemp production. Unfortunately, I know of no cure for hard-headedness.

[NickB79]

5. You can only plant corn so long before the soil dies

Monocropping a field with corn year after year, keeping it alive using massive inputs of chemicals, will turn black soil into dead, grey sand. Farmers need to rotate their fields back to soybeans, alfalfa, sorghum, oats, something, or their farms will be ruined.