4 ms·

In the US, we are now using 40-50% of our corn to produce ethanol. ~40% of corn goes directly to feed livestock. Some of the by-product of ethanol production (

In the US, we are now using 40-50% of our corn to produce ethanol. ~40% of corn goes directly to feed livestock. Some of the by-product of ethanol production (dried distillers' grain) is then also used as livestock feed. The US absolutely produces enough food, way more than we need, we just aren't using it to actually feed people.

Retric 12y ago
That's a fairly recent development. For scale: The us produced 1.63 billion gallons in 2000 vs 13.9 billion U.S. liquid gallons (52.6 billion liters) of ethanol fuel in 2011. Almost all of that was from the increase in corn production over that time period (7.5 Billion in 2000/2001 vs ~11 billion in 2012/2013) I think we are ~12-13 billion/year now. There is a great cart of Corn production http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/521847/cornuse.jpg http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/521847/cornuse.jpg which shows just how rapid that increase really was. http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn/background.aspx http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn/background.aspx PS: Per acre corn yields are up something like 10x over the last 100years that's crazy vs a ~3x population increase.
- bequanna 12y ago
  > PS: Per acre corn yields are up something like 10x over the last 100years that's crazy vs a ~3x population increase. I agree. The increases in yield are just incredible. You're right, ethanol production has just exploded in the past several years. Along with that, corn prices have increased along with ag. land prices. As a result, farmers have done quite well for themselves over the past decade. It will be interesting to see what would happen if ethanol production were to decline substantially. I would argue that as we shift toward an electric powered auto fleet, this is inevitable. I think the only question is will it happen in 10, 20 or 30 years?

4 ms·

In the US, we are now using 40-50% of our corn to produce ethanol. ~40% of corn goes directly to feed livestock. Some of the by-product of ethanol production (

by bequanna 12y ago

Retric 12y ago
That's a fairly recent development. For scale: The us produced 1.63 billion gallons in 2000 vs 13.9 billion U.S. liquid gallons (52.6 billion liters) of ethanol fuel in 2011. Almost all of that was from the increase in corn production over that time period (7.5 Billion in 2000/2001 vs ~11 billion in 2012/2013) I think we are ~12-13 billion/year now. There is a great cart of Corn production http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/521847/cornuse.jpg http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/521847/cornuse.jpg which shows just how rapid that increase really was. http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn/background.aspx http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn/background.aspx PS: Per acre corn yields are up something like 10x over the last 100years that's crazy vs a ~3x population increase.
- bequanna 12y ago
  > PS: Per acre corn yields are up something like 10x over the last 100years that's crazy vs a ~3x population increase. I agree. The increases in yield are just incredible. You're right, ethanol production has just exploded in the past several years. Along with that, corn prices have increased along with ag. land prices. As a result, farmers have done quite well for themselves over the past decade. It will be interesting to see what would happen if ethanol production were to decline substantially. I would argue that as we shift toward an electric powered auto fleet, this is inevitable. I think the only question is will it happen in 10, 20 or 30 years?