Ethanol can only ever be a minor source of our fuel needs, because to order to produce the amount of ethanol needed to fuel the world's motor vehicles we would have to stop eating. I hate how the heavily subsided ethanol industry is driving up the price of food which is hurting people in the poorer countries and driving many of them to starvation.
I think we could run our vehicles on entirely on non-corn ethanol and still have plenty of food. We have the saudi arabia of Biomass in the S.E. U.S. . However, I also think that trying to do that would be majorly stupid. The only thing that drove up the cost of food is high oil prices and low value of the dollar. I feel sorry for animal farmers because they are hurt the worst with high corn prices, but I don't mind paying a few extra cents for my beef, but a smart farmer would be using distillers grains for food. Its all part of the cycle.
I think GM fuel crops are a great idea, but GM food crops should not be allowed patents. Monsanto is ruining our agricultural base in the U.S. They are single handedly putting farmers out of business, and costing the government millions in subsidies. Farmers should not have to pay for seed, they grow it. It is arguable that GM crops in the U.S. are keeping these poorer countries poor, because our productivity here is so high that the price is too low. This is much more of a problem to them then high corn prices. If you want to know more go to HULU.com and watch "the future of food".
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