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~60 million acres of corn and soybean in the US, the size of Oregon, is grown exclusively for biofuels. This is unnecessary as you mention, as are the subsidies
by toomuchtodo 10mo ago
~60 million acres of corn and soybean in the US, the size of Oregon, is grown exclusively for biofuels. This is unnecessary as you mention, as are the subsidies to farmers for these row crops.
- nickpsecurity 10mo agoDo those crops contribute to the negative numbers reported since most people don't buy biofuel? Or does it contribute something positive to the numbers with government subsidies guaranteeing returns? I haven't studied the economics of the biofuel farming.
- toomuchtodo 10mo agoCorn is turned into ethanol, and is then blended with gasoline. The US consumes ~14B gallons of ethanol per year. It’s a net negative because it’s carbon and water intensive and farmers advocate for more ethanol than is necessary as a subsidy via government mandate. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/03/environment-corn-farming-trump-administration https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/03/environm... https://ethanolrfa.org/media-and-news/category/news-releases/article/2026/01/u-s-ethanol-blend-rate-tops-11-in-october-as-e15-expansion-continues https://ethanolrfa.org/media-and-news/category/news-releases...
- mlrtime 10mo agoWhich could be easily converted in one harvest to feed a nation if needed. That option is very valuable.
- toomuchtodo 10mo agoThe US already has far more food production than needed, this option is of little value.