I read a news release from the National Chicken Council, and saw reference to releases from the equivalent Pork and Beef organizations, suggesting there should be a study into the tradeoffs between using corn for fuel and food. The meat industry is worried.
Already the wholesale price of chicken has gone up 6% because of rising corn prices. Ethanol is competing with Buffalo Wings and chicken tenders. And Bush wants to triple ethanol production from corn. Guess what -- the price of meat from those animals that feed on corn is going up. And the price of other grains will rise as cropland is converted over to raise more corn.
Wow, this is great! A real Win-Win situation.
Think of this. It takes over 10 calories of grain to produce 1 calorie of meat. By raising the price of meat until it is out of the price range of most people, market forces will cut the consumption of meat -- drastically. All we have to do is use the corn to produce ethanol instead of meat and let the market forces rule.
And as background, wild fishing stocks are being depleted (estimated to disappear by 2050), so a meal of fish will soon become rare. Of course, the fish farms also use grains to feed their stock, so their prices should climb as well. Ultimately, that should reduce consumption of fish, leaving more grain available for ethanol or other uses.
The Department of Agriculture reports that the US grain reserve is expected to drop to zero this year, and Australia has quit exporting grain. Unfortunately, we still have 800 million people who have insufficient food in the rest of the world (I am hesitant to describe them as starving -- I have no personal experience with them). They will have even fewer food supplies available. But we can help save them by eating less meat. Again, a Win-Win situation.
I am not sure what will happen to the price of tofu, made from soy beans. There is a growing biodiesel industry, and they really like soybean oil as their feedstock.
Vegetarians, arise. Your time is coming, that is if there is any grain left for you to eat.
BTW, does anyone know how much corn is required to make corn likker? Is that threatened, too.
Yeah, team,
sam