Some words from an expert who by the way
can type and punctuate.
Ethanol production does not reduce the amount of food available for human consumption. Ethanol is produced from field corn which is primarily fed to livestock and is undigestible by humans in its raw form. The ethanol production process produces not only fuel but valuable livestock feed products.
Every 56-pound bushel of corn used in the dry mill ethanol process yields 18 pounds of distillers grains, a good source of energy and protein for livestock and poultry. Similarly, a bushel of corn in the wet mill ethanol process creates 13.5 pounds of corn gluten feed and 2.6 pounds of high-protein corn gluten meal, as well as corn oil used in food processing.
Importantly, ethanol production utilizes only the starch portion of the corn kernel, which is abundant and of low value. While the starch is converted to ethanol, the protein, vitamins, minerals and fiber are sold as high-value livestock feed (distillers grains). Protein, which is left intact by the ethanol process, is a highly valued product in world food and feed markets. Aside from preserving the protein, a considerable portion of the corn’s original digestible energy is also preserved in the distillers grains.
Distillers grains have an average protein content (28 to 30%) that is typically at least three times higher than that of corn, making it a valuable ingredient in livestock and poultry diets. In 2006/07, more than 12 million metric tons of distillers grains were produced by ethanol biorefineries and fed to livestock and poultry. It is estimated that distillers grains displaced more than 500 million bushels of corn from feed rations last year, allowing that corn to be used in other markets.
It also is important to remember the amount of field corn actually used for human food is just a small fraction of the total corn supply. For example, cereal accounted for just over one percent of total corn use in 2005.
The overwhelming majority of U.S. corn, including exported corn, feeds livestock—not humans. There is a popular misconception that corn is exported from the U.S. to feed those in malnourished countries, and thus ethanol use will diminish exports to these countries. The truth is the majority of corn exports are used to feed livestock in developed countries. Importantly, the U.S. ethanol industry is helping to satisfy foreign demand for high-protein, high-energy feedstuffs by exporting more than 1 million metric tons of distillers grains to countries around the world in 2005.
Ed Hubel
It reduces food available because:
1. It occupies farmland that was could otherwise be used for growing human food.
2. It employs human expertise (farmers) who would otherwise be employed growing human food.
3. It uses mechanized equipment that would otherwise be used to grow human food.
And what do livestock feed?
Not according to this article. Livestock producers are having to look for alternative sources to replace that starch.
Gee, so if we take off the market 1/4 of all the animal feed for developed nations... what do you think that they are going to get to feed those animals?
Fairy dust and moonbeams?
No, they're going to buy food. Food that had previously been going somewhere else. Like all those less-developed nations with all those less wealthy populations.
BTW: since you're a farmer, you should already know that chickens can eat the distiller's grain. Care to speculate as to what'll happen to the price of chicken if there is less chickenfeed out there for the chicken farmers to buy?