No, it doesn’t, Neo—your figures are out of date. But that is even more boring than an explanation of feed costs, so I’m not going to go into it. I could send you some links to information, if you’re really interested.
You are right that lots of people are growing corn in place of wheat. It’s called “supply and demand.” That’s the way the free market is supposed to work. Why shouldn’t people grow corn if they can make more money that way?
Sure Kathleen, thanks. It is a topic that interests me greatly. I don’t doubt that my figures are out of date somewhat, that is why I was vague.
Nothing wrong with producing a better cash crop, I was just pointing out why certain products were rising dramatically in price.
I used to be able to get 3 loafs of store brand bread for 1 dollar, now 1 loaf is more than a dollar.
Even still the real cost of ethanol is hidden behind tax incentives and subsidies.
With all the corn going for fuel, there is much less for chicken feed, cow feed, etc.
That’s okay, we just mix in some dead cow byproducts into the other cows’ feed to boost their protein. It works well with sheep, too. I’m sure that there’s nothing wrong with that.
Worldwide the supply of wheat is down—not just in the U.S. I think, though I could be mistaken, that some of the other countries that grow wheat had bad crops, and actually, while most of the shortage in the U.S. was due to fewer acres, a certain percentage was because some places in the U.S. where wheat was grown just had a bad crop year for wheat.
As I mentioned before, I have a hard enough time keeping half-a**ed track of the U.S. crop (and Indiana has traditionally grown very little wheat, so it’s not a crop I follow very closely anyway), so I could be wrong about that. But it’s definitely true that worldwide, the supply of wheat is less than the demand. For whatever reason.
I’ll send you some links about ethanol production, but probably not until Monday.
I’ll hold you to that.
I know that the ethanol boom has to be having some problems, corn prices have more than doubled recently. When I lived in Missouri we were surveying and staking out a new ethanol plant, but it was never built, and still isn’t as far as I know. According to some reading I have done, that is happening a lot. There just isn’t a profit anymore.
There is still profit—but my guess is mainly only because oil/gasoline prices are so high. Even higher than corn. Plus, right now ethanol is (as far as I know, which may not be enough) the only viable alternative to MTBEs as an oxygenate, and the U.S. EPA has mandated the phasing out of MTBEs.
Do hold me to my promise—I’ve made a note to myself, but…
It quotes a “commodity strategist” (a profession that I for one have never heard of until now) from Merrill Lynch.
By the way, I meant to mention that I don’t think by any means that corn-based ethanol is the perfect thing. I think that eventually they need to make it from something else—something easier and cheaper to produce, and something that’s not so volitile. Such as switchgrass—or waste paper. They can make ethanol out of switchgrass, as well as a lot of other things (Brazil uses sugar cane, I believe), but last I heard, the process isn’t good enough yet to make it profitable. I don’t think it will be too long before it is, though.
That’s okay, we just mix in some dead cow byproducts into the other cows’ feed to boost their protein. It works well with sheep, too. I’m sure that there’s nothing wrong with that.
I believe there have been some problems associated with that practice. Now, where did I read that…
Which reminds me: I have an internet friend (another one) who is from Scotland though she lives in England currently, and another from Ireland, and they both claim that they have never had a peanut-butter-and-jelly (or “jam,” as they insist on calling it ) sandwich. They say it sounds just repulsive. Are they just odd? (Well, OK, they’re friends of mine so they are bound to be a bit odd.) Or in the U.K. is it really as peculiar a combination as they seem to think?
Your friends may well be odd, but that combination really does sound horrible. I don’t know anyone here who’s ever even wanted to try it.
Which reminds me: I have an internet friend (another one) who is from Scotland though she lives in England currently, and another from Ireland, and they both claim that they have never had a peanut-butter-and-jelly (or “jam,” as they insist on calling it ) sandwich. They say it sounds just repulsive. Are they just odd? (Well, OK, they’re friends of mine so they are bound to be a bit odd.) Or in the U.K. is it really as peculiar a combination as they seem to think?
Your friends may well be odd, but that combination really does sound horrible. I don’t know anyone here who’s ever even wanted to try it.
Yeah, I’m with Mouse. That idea just makes me shudder.
