4 ms·

Livestock feeding isn't the only consumer of large amounts of corn. Consider that just about every processed food there is has some measure of corn products in

by bmj 17y ago

Livestock feeding isn't the only consumer of large amounts of corn. Consider that just about every processed food there is has some measure of corn products in them. Then there's the ethanol industry, too....

jrockway 17y ago
This is really only in the US, though, where the government pays more for corn than it's worth on the market. This makes it cheap, and since people want cheap food, "they" have figured out how to put it in everything. When I go to Europe, the drinks on the flight there are sweetened with HFCS. On the way back, they are sweetened with cane sugar. "Corn in everything" is mostly and American thing. (And we're so healthy because of it!)
- encoderer 17y ago
  Don't kid yourself. It's far from Corn Syrup. Americans eat more Corn than other cultures, but Europeans still eat more corn than you're letting on. Even if there's a metabolism between the corn and your bodies, it's still corn you're eating. The Carbon 4 is still there, it can still be traced.
encoderer 17y ago
That's not my question... I understand the prevelance of Corn in just about everything in the supermarket. That's pretty much CW amongst those with a little brains nowadays I'd say. But the OP said that the amount of naturally occurring Nitrogen is enough to feed 10bn people if we move towards a more vegetarian diet. That is, no need for artificial nitrogen. Which brought me to my question that Corn is the #1 direct consumer of nitrogen. So unless livestock is consuming an awful lot of Corn, reducing the livestock headcount isn't going to reduce the amount of Corn per se.
- bmj 17y ago
  Which brought me to my question that Corn is the #1 direct consumer of nitrogen. So unless livestock is consuming an awful lot of Corn, reducing the livestock headcount isn't going to reduce the amount of Corn per se. That's probably true, as the corn industry, at least in the US, will find another consumer for its quantities (since, if Pollan's research is to be believed, the corn industry and the government essentially created and supported the market that exists now).

by bmj 17y ago

jrockway 17y ago

This is really only in the US, though, where the government pays more for corn than it's worth on the market. This makes it cheap, and since people want cheap food, "they" have figured out how to put it in everything. When I go to Europe, the drinks on the flight there are sweetened with HFCS. On the way back, they are sweetened with cane sugar. "Corn in everything" is mostly and American thing. (And we're so healthy because of it!)

encoderer 17y ago
Don't kid yourself. It's far from Corn Syrup. Americans eat more Corn than other cultures, but Europeans still eat more corn than you're letting on. Even if there's a metabolism between the corn and your bodies, it's still corn you're eating. The Carbon 4 is still there, it can still be traced.

encoderer 17y ago

That's not my question... I understand the prevelance of Corn in just about everything in the supermarket. That's pretty much CW amongst those with a little brains nowadays I'd say. But the OP said that the amount of naturally occurring Nitrogen is enough to feed 10bn people if we move towards a more vegetarian diet. That is, no need for artificial nitrogen. Which brought me to my question that Corn is the #1 direct consumer of nitrogen. So unless livestock is consuming an awful lot of Corn, reducing the livestock headcount isn't going to reduce the amount of Corn per se.

bmj 17y ago
Which brought me to my question that Corn is the #1 direct consumer of nitrogen. So unless livestock is consuming an awful lot of Corn, reducing the livestock headcount isn't going to reduce the amount of Corn per se. That's probably true, as the corn industry, at least in the US, will find another consumer for its quantities (since, if Pollan's research is to be believed, the corn industry and the government essentially created and supported the market that exists now).