Ethanol Madness Drives Up Milk Prices

The price of milk is now about the same as the price of gasoline, around $4.00 per gallon. One big reason why: Ethanol madness. Ethanol is probably more of a bane than a boon, and most estimates say that even if every kernel of US-grown corn was used for fuel, it would make up less than 15% of our fuel needs. MSNBC quotes an expert who says, "higher gasoline prices have increased the costs of moving milk from farm to market, and corn — the primary feed for dairy cattle — is being gobbled up by producers of the fuel-additive ethanol. The USDA projects that 3.2 billion bushels of this year’s corn crop will be used to make ethanol, a 52 percent increase over 2006." Another expert says, "The claim that using ethanol will save energy is another myth. Studies show that the amount of energy ethanol produces and the amount needed to make it are roughly the same. "It takes a lot of fossil fuels to make the fertilizer, to run the tractor, to build the silo, to get that corn to a processing plant, to run the processing plant" (see "Ethanol Facts and Fiction"). The insane desire to use ethanol has caused far more problems than it has helped. Mexican consumer know this all too well (see "Of Tortillas and Ethanol"). Mexicans been paying much higher prices lately for items made of corn, due largely to the displacement of ethanol for fuel usage.

Ethanol Facts and Fiction

Complicated problems rarely have simple solutions. Our energy problems are no exception, and the simple-minded school of thought that holds ethanol up as a cure-all is only fooling itself - and many of us. John Stossel has a great piece titled, "The Many Myths of Ethanol," and it is must-reading. (Hat tip to Backyard Conservative.) The claim that using ethanol will save energy is another myth. Studies show that the amount of energy ethanol produces and the amount needed to make it are roughly the same. "It takes a lot of fossil fuels to make the fertilizer, to run the tractor, to build the silo, to get that corn to a processing plant, to run the processing plant," Taylor says. And because ethanol degrades, it can't be moved in pipelines the way that gasoline is. So many more big, polluting trucks will be needed to haul it. More bad news: The increased push for ethanol has already led to a sharp increase in corn growing -- which means much more land must be plowed. That means much more fertilizer, more water used on farms and more pesticides. FULL ARTICLE... For more information see Eco Rebuttal