And there is this...The approximately $1 billion a year in current federal and state subsidies (mainly to large corporations) for ethanol production are not the only costs to consumers, the Cornell scientist observes. Subsidized corn results in higher prices for meat, milk and eggs because about 70 percent of corn grain is fed to livestock and poultry in the United States Increasing ethanol production would further inflate corn prices, Pimentel says, noting: "In addition to paying tax dollars for ethanol subsidies, consumers would be paying significantly higher food prices in the marketplace."
@ET: When we visit relatives in NE LA, it's a heavy farming area. We used to see a real mixture of crops. Now, it seems most land is dedicated to soybeans and dent corn. Someone even built an ethanol plant up there. It takes a lot of corn to make the ethanol, so I guess they found it was better to build a plant close to the crops and then ship the final product farther.
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