Jim and others: It is wayyyy too simplistic to blame hungry people in
central america on ethanol!
First let me say that only a tiny fraction of yellow corn is used for human
consumption.
Secondly when alcohol is distilled from corn only the starch is taken out
and a large part of the corn becomes a high protein feed. Last I heard the
human food chain world wide was awash in starch.
Then you need to look at history.
30 years ago Mexico and other central american countries were self
sufficient in maize. Then we came up with GATT! Tens of thousands of small
farmers were put out of business while ADM, Cargill and our other grain
giants exported US corn to them that we were being payed to produce at below
our cost of production. The number of folks that swam the river correlates
closely with the number of dispossessed farmers from south of the border.
Now ADM is the largest taco producer in that region.
The main problem with costs is the world money games that have suddenly made
everything we produce look cheap to most of the world. The countries that
haven't bought into the "free market at any cost" game (china) seem to be
doing best.
Kurt.
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