UN urges US to cut ethanol production

[dead0man]

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One of the few times I agree with the UN over the US, and Texas over Nebraska.

[Redalgo]

A permanent suspension of the mandate would be wonderful, in my opinion.

[Frodo]

I hope our government listens.  That corn can be put to more productive uses than ethanol. 

[Sbane]

Obama needs to win Iowa, right? Yeah, this is going nowhere.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Ethanol is wholly unnecessary, especially when starving people may actually need some corn.

[Jacobtm]

U.S. corn-based ethanol production is an issue that no one with the power of reason could support.

Unless you're a farmer. Or a Senator form a Farm State.

Just another knock against democracy, I suppose.

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

It's not as simple as telling farmers to stop selling their corn to ethanol producers and sell to livestock ranchers instead. Much corn is raised in monocultures across the corn belt, and each of these monocultures is usually tailored to a certain use by utilizing specific strains of corn, such as for human consumption, animal feed, ethanol etc. Each strain is engineered to be more advantageous for its use.

Even if you overcame the political difficulties (and the corn/agribusiness lobby is a powerful beast that must be slain), there are still the economic hurdles. It would take time to make the transition.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Doesn't it take more than a gallon of gasoline to produce a gallon of ethanol? The money would obviously be better spent on alternative energy that actually would help things. It's obviously pork for politically important states like Iowa.