The worst drought in 50 years has destroyed one-sixth of the U.S. corn crop. The USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WSDE) report, released Friday, projects the smallest corn crop in six years and the lowest corn yields per acre since 1995.
As acreage, production, and yields declined, corn prices spiked. Last week, corn futures hit a record high of $8.29-3/4 per bushel.
If corn prices remain high through 2013, livestock producers who use corn as a feedstock will incur billions of dollars in added costs. “These additional costs will either be passed on to consumers through increased food prices, or poultry farmers will be forced out of business,” warn the National Chicken Council and National Turkey Federation.
Even before the drought hit, corn prices were high. Prices increased from $2.00 a bushel in 2005/2006 to $6.00 a bushel in 2011/2012, notes FarmEcon LLC. A key inflationary factor is the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), commonly known as the ethanol mandate. Since 2005, the RFS has required more and more billions of bushels to be used to fuel cars rather than feed livestock and people.
Suspension of the mandate would allow meat, poultry, and dairy producers to compete on a level playing field with ethanol producers for what remains of the drought-ravaged crop. That would reduce corn prices, benefiting livestock producers and consumers alike.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has authority under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) to waive the RFS blending targets, in whole or in part, if she determines that those requirements “would severely harm the economy or environment of a State, a region, or the United States.” The pressure on her to do so is mounting.
Lisa Jackson does not care if food prices go higher, that is part of the end game.
I’ve always wondered why adding corn to my gas was a good choice. My owner’s manual for my van says that if you use 10% ethanol, the gas mileage goes down 10%. Doesn’t seem worthwhile to me.
It is an inert filler. But it is very effective for getting mid-westerners’ votes.
The biggest advantage is the vote potential. Ethanol is not inert, just lower BTU value. Gasoline is ~125,000 Btu/gal and ethanol is ~84,600 Btu/gal. A 10% blend results in something like 121,000 btu/gal, a 3.3% decrease. Plus all the fun stuff it does to older engines.
Measured difference in my car was 20 mpg down to 18 mpg. 2 mpg from 20 is 10%.
Your mileage may vary.
Ethanol is extremely hygroscopic – it absorbs moisture from the air. This is especially serious for marine engines, which are in a high-humidity environment. Water getting into internal combustion engines does a lot of damage. Some boat owners are having to replace engines before they have been fully paid for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rXX9Fo7ZKQ
As if ethanol degradation of fuel lines etc. wasn’t enough.
So Obama has to give back the Peace Prize and go in front of the Hague for genocide?
Sorry,dd. Bush gave us the ethanol mandate and the cellulosic ethanol mandate AND the CFL mandate.
Ethanol is a high octane fuel and MIT demonstrated a project whereby injecting a small amount of ethanol increases octane allowing a much greater compression ratio and thus increasing performance. But it does not use much ethanol.
Octane is not energy.
Addition of ethanol may enable using a lower distillate and still achieving the desired octane rating. Hence, some savings is possible at the refinery. Not in the Chevy.
Military aircraft during WWII injected water into the combustion chambers during periods of high power operations, such as takeoff. Apparently, ethanol also works to slow down the flame front in the internal combustion engine. Military aircraft are expendable, my car is not.
Taylor, that only works if you increase the compression ratio (which does increase efficiency via Carnot’s law), something that you can’t do on a flex fuel vehicle because you cannot plan on getting E85. If you can optimise it, can make things more efficient, yes. I don’t think that it’s enough to overcome the reduction in energy content, and given that it takes more than a gallon of diesel to make and distribute ethanol anyway, the total affect on the economy’s oil consumption is an increase.