Henry L. Stuart whose comments are found below, resides in McKinleyville, Texas

My daughter, who owns a feed and farm supply business in Bosque County,
Texas, 40 miles west of Waco, reports that corn is being grown in Texas
where corn has never grown before. This corn is destined for the ethanol
craze.

The agricultural programs supporting corn make it a sure winner for growers.
If the crop fails for any reason, federal crop insurance covers the losses.
If a bumper crop and a glut tend to depress prices, there is compensation
for that, too.

A corn grower cannot lose money. How would you like to be in a business that
can't lose money? And 51 cents per gallon federal subsidy for ethanol
production sweetens the deal, further distorting grain markets.


The new corn planting in Texas is replacing soybean planting creating a thin
supply of soybeans and escalating prices. Soybeans and corn, among other
things, are the favored feed for chickens, eggs and dairy production.
Cottonseed meal is the second choice. It is not in short supply, but it is
chasing the price of soybeans.

Before this crop cycle is completed, grocery shoppers can expect to see
breathtaking prices for eggs, chicken and dairy products. Beef and pork
won’t be far behind, but there are some substitute feeds for them.

The ethanol farce behind all this is promoted by two misrepresentations by
the Bush White House.

The first misrepresentation is that imported oil is somehow a national
security issue. Baloney. Most of our imported oil comes from non-Arab
countries, especially Canada, Mexico and Venezuela. Where is the national
security issue in that?

This administration is doing everything possible to make the Venezuelan
strongman, Hugo Chavez, mad at us, but he is losing favor with his
constituency. Perhaps the next administration will patch up our relations
with Venezuela. We need each other.

The second misrepresentation is that ethanol as fuel is less polluting than
petroleum products. Baloney. Pollution measured from the cornfield to the
tailpipe is not noticeably better than petroleum products measured from the
wellhead to the tailpipe.


The ethanol fiasco is sponsored by farm state legislators and their big
benefactors, the giant agribusinesses Conagra and Archer Daniels Midland,
which are deeply involved in corn and ethanol production while receiving
millions of dollars in agricultural subsidies and dispensing millions in
“campaign financing.”

Besides the 51 cents per gallon subsidy afforded to ethanol production,
Congress also has enacted restraints on trade so that inexpensive ethanol
from Brazil cannot enter the U.S. market. Brazilians make ethanol in huge
quantities from spent sugar cane and other agricultural waste. This
restraint is called “free trade.”

Ethanol from corn is perhaps the craziest thing that Congress has ever done,
but it fits in with the apparent functions of Congress. It seems that the
goal of most members of Congress is to get rich, and the role of most
members of Congress is to get re-elected.

Will Congress ever do anything about this mistaken policy? Probably not. It
will tinker with it around the edges, but powerful money interests now have
both feet in the trough, and the policy will never go away.

To abolish a bad policy requires that someone must eat crow, and the longer
the policy has been in effect, the tougher the crow is to chew.

By the way — efforts are afoot to make diesel fuel from soybean oil. Watch
out for this one.

Ethanol policy is so bad that it rises to a question of morality, but
Congress will not be bothered by that. Some of the people in the richest
nation in the world go to bed hungry every night because they can’t afford
enough groceries. Using foodstuffs to propel our motor vehicles is immoral.

For another 50 articles along these lines see or Global Environment Section…
GLOBAL

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