But let’s stick to one issue at a time. Corn is not a basic food crop.
5,250 million bu. - livestock feed BASIC FOOD
3,650 million bu. - ethanol production
1,850 million bu. - exports BASIC FOOD
943 million bu. - production of starch, corn oil, sweeteners (HFCS,etc.) BASIC FOOD
327 million bu. - human consumption - grits, corn flour, corn meal, beverage alcohol BASIC FOOD
Oh, ok only about 75% is used as a basic food or foodstock. 25% is subsidized to burn in gas tanks. Take away the subsidy and 100% is used as a BASIC FOOD CROP, either directly consumed or used to produce other foods.
Yes, you can eat corn flakes for breakfast. The box costs more than the corn itself. As a percentage of the US corn production though, it is infinetismal. Would you concede the fact that most of the corn grown has always been used as feed for livestock?
See above.
Note, that’s a question.
Note, I always recognized that corn was a cattle and pig feed. As such it is a BASIC FOOD CROP. Humans eat pigs and cattle. Corn is fed to pigs and cattle so that humans can eat them. You can't get any more basic than that.
Agricultural subsidies is another issue. The short answer to my way of thinking, there are an awful lot of .gov subsidies that (should) probably get the axe (sorry, scalpel. Hm.) than the people who grow our food.
And that is an emotional argument. No facts "...to my way of thinking...", just emotion and your opinion. So, how about some facts.
Subsidies, we can talk about those too. Can we agree that oil is subsidized as well?
Nope. How so?
Further, corn (as well as other crops) are renewable! Oil, once burned, is gone.
There is enough oil in North America to last for hundreds of years. That's enough for me. You will not replace a significant portion of gasoline use with ethanol. You will not replace an ounce of gasoline use with ethanol without a government subsidy. You will, however, increase the cost of corn, all all the other basic food stuffs that input corn, if you try.
Again, I am open to discussing facts. When I point out that corn is used as primarily livestock feed, somebody opines that Ethanol runs poorly in their F150. Well, duh. It’s a gasoline engine. We can talk auto shop too, etc., but again, different subject.
No, a basic food crop would be one that majority utilize as their basic sustenance.
You would agree that Americans do not largely or even in part, sustain themselves on cornmeal. Am I correct in that?
It’s not a basic food crop. So the initial claim isn’t factual. Next, upon this mistaken assumption, yet another falsehood is laid, the notion that this food is being wholly consumed e.g. “food into fuel”.
That, it turns out, isn’t true either. Merely the starch is extracted and turned into alcohol. The remaining grains are STILL FOOD!
Another excellent use of wheat, is to turn it into BEER. Barley, tons of it, is grown and converted into a tasty, nutritious beverage.
BEER, therefore, IS A FOOD CROP. It should be heavily subsidized, and any and all taxes be rescinded. Thank me later.