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Non-Tech : $2 or higher gas - Can ethanol make a comeback? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Think4Yourself who wrote (2344)	2/25/2007 4:05:17 PM
From: Ish	Respond to of 2801

<<Mexico is the country complaining about corn prices. I believe they were getting all our excess corn cheap in the past.>> They were getting some but they weren't a big buyer. Most of the corn grown in the US food grade corn. The US has been selling corn to Japan, S. Korea, India and Canada plus many other nations for years. Now you can add in China and Indonesia. Indonesia used to buy from China and Australia but they no longer have any excess to sell. <<Does the waste product have any usable protein in it?>> Yep, the Nebraska cattle herd is now 50% larger because what was once milled off for feed is now being sold as a by product. Here's a little info from 8 years ago. Will we deplete human and animal food supplies by using corn and other grains for fuel production? No, actually the production of ethanol from corn uses only the starch of the corn kernel, all of the valuable protein, minerals and nutrients remain. One bushel of corn produces about 2.7 gallons of ethanol AND 11.4 pounds of gluten feed (20% protein) AND 3 pounds of gluten meal (60% protein) AND 1.6 pounds of corn oil. <<I am not a farmer but it seems to me that planting corn year after year would strip an awful lot of nutrients out of the ground, making the crop almost entirely dependent on manufactured fertilizer.>> That's tobacco and is what will happen with switch grass. I recently read about one farmer who raises things like green beans, spinach and such who tosses in corn once in a while so the stalks and leaves will add organic matter to his soil. My farm has been raising corn since before the Civil War and raised 185 bu. per acre last year.