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On other forums with less ag background, more people than not do not have a clue what type of 'corn' is used for ethanol. They can only think of sweet corn, & figure the ethanol plants are destroying their summer grilling parties. The level of uninformed in this country is just amazing. Field corn, #2 yellow field corn, is by far the biggest crop in the USA, and 1/3 gets exported to other countries. Most ends up as livestock feed - here or there. Some small tiny % is made into corn syrup (mostly pop sweetener) or cornbread or the like. But very, very little. There is pop corn, sweet corn, and white corn - this is used to make the white taco/ tortiella shells. This is very few acres compared to field corn, yellow #2 grade. These 3 would be considered the food grade corns. No one in the rest of the world wanted to buy our high-priced corn when it was $2 a bu, so farmers started figuring out something else to do with it - fuel. Now that the world ecconomies have flipped around, the rest of the world wants to buy our cheap $5.50 corn. We will be in a _world_ of hurt if/when congress 'does something' about the high cost of grains and kills off corn demand, lowers it's price by 1/3..... Will break farmers who had to pay double the normal price of fert, fuel, herbicide planning for good prices. Will drive world demand for our really, really cheap $3 corn & we will sell out what we have to other countries. Next year USA farmers won't grow much corn - costs more to plant than you get from it, and we will end up importing corn in 2010 at world prices - copmared to our deflated worthless dollars. I wish the American public realized what it is they are asking for!!!!! The world wants more corn & has the money to buy it, demand must be met naturally with a bump up in proces or worse evils will happen with artifical controls. Ethanol 'uses' about 1/4 of our corn, but 1/3 of that is returned as livestock feed, so it consumes only 17% of our corn production. We have increased corn production by about that much over the past 3 years. The driving force of higher grain prices is world demand & our cheaper dollar value. --->Paul
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