“The 2007 Farm Bill proposals show the Administration’s support of biotechnology in both industrial and agricultural applications. … We greatly appreciate the Administration’s demonstrated commitment to support companies researching and commercializing both ethanol from cellulose and biobased products from renewable agricultural resources. The proposals related to international trade illustrate the importance of internationally accepted regulatory standards, many of which affect biotech crops.” Jim Greenwod, Biotechnology Industry Organization President and CEO
“Overall, we like what we hear and what we’ve seen, because it improves the funding for specialty crops and conservation.” Leonard Blackham, Utah Agriculture Commissioner
“The industry is elated to be considered a major crop in the proposed 2007 Farm Bill… This will afford our industry more access to USDA programs, especially Phytosanitary and trade related support programs, due to the fact that 80 percent
of our packed cartons goes to off shore markets.” Doug Bournique, Indian River Citrus League Executive Director
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A Bushel of corn weighs 56 lbs…about the size of a 50 pound bag of sand
…created from one acre of land. Currently 47% of “Field Corn” (which is
used for ethanol) is allocated to feed for animals. 27% is Mandated by the
Congress and is now dedicated to Ethanol production for Fuel. The rest of
this crop is used for Cornstarch, Corn Syrup and other corn related products
used in our food. What is not being disclosed is how much of this product
is Bio-Engineered…much like the “Starlink” debacle some time ago…we do
not know and may never know – how much of this product in our food supply
is totally “Non-Digestible”.
The Farm Bill of 2007 is being considered as we speak. President Bush seems
to be on the correct side of this argument and only wants small farmers to get
the various Farm Subsidies….those making under $200,000 dollars a year. But
there are problems..even with that process. The reality is that there is only
so much Farm Land and the small Farmers once they dedicate that land to Corn
in order to get the Government Mandated Subsidy….won’t plant Soy, Wheat, Rice
or anything else. With shortages of domestic crops such as these….we increase
the world demand and start killing people in foreign countries…because we
are virtually taking the food out of their mouths – at a higher price.
What seems silly is; that as we speak…we have a 51 to 54 cents per bushel Tariff on all foreign Field Corn imports…..from most every country including the Brazil. The only caveat to that is a 7% Caribbean Tariff Free Zone…which was instituted by President Reagan, back in the 80’s! If we want more Corn for Ethanol…drop all the Tariffs and let countries that want to produce Corn for the US Market…do so freely and competively!
Right now we have some greedy ADM Executives and Corporate Farmers rubbing their hands with glee, hoping upon hope, that the Subsidies from the Farm and Energy Bills will go directly from the tax coffers and into their pockets. The Farm Belt States and politicians are drooling as the cost of Food spikes with those profits going directly into their fat wallets! Many will be dancing a Jig if this Farm Bill passes as presently written! The effect on consumers will be catastrophic!
The current Congress driven mandate diverts 25 to 30% of our entire Corn and Soy crops into the Fuel Supply – “Ethanol Markets”. To put it into perspective..80% of the cost of Meat, Pork, Poultry and Eggs comes from feed costs! Corn feed is what makes productive Cattle markets – not to mention Chickens and Pig production!
Spiking and diverting our Corn Crops into Ethanol then drives up all Food Costs and the rich US Market will reach out and start importing more foreign food and related crops….which will raise the price of those crops in other countries. It is simply called; “Competing interests!” for land. This as we mentioned, should be “Optional Choices” for Foreign Food Producing Countries…and NOT Mandated by elevated or driven by Global pricing or manipulation!
Back to Basics:
No farmer is ever going to plant Sunflower Seeds crops…and NOT get the Federal Subsidy…when they can grow “Field Corn or Soy” and get higher prices for their products and reap the Federal Subsidy is the process. Double dipping again!
The Oil Companies are working this process through the Energy Bill…and thusly reaping even more Federal Subsidies by utilizing the “Ethanol Mandated lternative”! It is a very sweet deal….except for the consumer, foreign food producers and the poor people of the world who can’t find Rice, Wheat or Corn at a reasonable price. The Oil Companies continue to rail for more supply. Considering the fact that China will be using three times what it is using now in five years…which exceeds what the United States uses annually…by way….will do nothing but spike prices even higher!
The solutions are mileage standards for Trucks, Buses, Rail and other major users of fuels. The solutions are not to use our Food Supply for Gasoline which will then – spike both markets.
A couple of web sites that you might find interesting:
Grocery Manufacturers Association: www.gma.org
National Corn Growers Association: www.ncga.com
Finally, we should realize that 30% of our entire production of Vegetable Oils have been dedicated to Fuel Production for Automobiles in the United States! Get the idea…..the price of food is going the way of a barrel of oil….”Up, Up and Away in my beautiful balloon…” Some are even projecting that $200 dollars a barrel
for oil in two years….or thusly, up to $20 dollars a gallon for gasoline! Yikes!
Maybe we all should be paying closer attention to what we might find in our
national Energy and Farm Bills. Ya think?
It’s too late to complain. This is the strategy that won the election – pay for the war later by printing money now so as to inflate everyone into a higher tax bracket instead of raising taxes.
And those taxes go to pay farmers not to grow crops and also, to subsidize those who do buy the crops – very smart as we’re taxed double and then pay more at the supermaket.
First off, the government should not be subsidizing anyone. They have no Right to do so with our tax dollars. It simply isn’t something they should involved in. It is not one of their mandated job functions, and frankly they don’t do a good job at the things they are mandated by law to do.
Nor should they be involved in CAFE standards. It’s either a free market or it isn’t. Anyone with half a brain, reading the Constitution isn’t going to find a justification for the current mess as part of a “limited” government, which is the basis and “overriding legal authority” for Congress to pass laws. It’s only through the warped glasses and logic of bureaucratic largess that such “laws” and regulations have come to be. I defy anyone of you to explain logically, the compelling need for the current redistribution of wealth that has become the Congressional way of life. Please take your best shot!
Congress and the departments that make up both federal and state governments have become fiefdoms of self perpetuation and little else. They are not measured by how much good they do, how effective they are, or need, to justify the increasingly onerous demand for ever increasing budgets they demand taxpayers fund. No one seems to need to explain why the government has a compelling reason to do something, they just need Congress to fund it and the President to sign off on it, for it to become an increasingly heavy burden, we all share. They sure as heck don’t bother with the legally accepted means of amending the Constitution, they just beat up anyone who opposes them in court, with the might and weight of our “unlimited” tax dollars.
Nor are we as citizens doing our job either. We continue to elect individuals to office not based on how well they protect our Rights, but how much of our stolen money they can return to district for their pet projects. We really are getting what we collectively deserve and that isn’t well thought out or good. More than half of all government expenditures are made in areas that are non-Constitutionally mandated. Basically not their damn job, and they do a really poor job at virtually everything, except building bureaucracies. The very reasons why the founders placed restrictions on the powers that both federal and state governments had. As well as mandating those not held and directed to those entities be reserved by The People.
We fail as “The People” in generally defending those Rights. We roll over because it’s the easy thing to do, not the right thing to do and make a plethora of excuses why, as if we can justify it in our own minds. It will only get worse until the majority of voters decide to stand up and demand their personal Rights and hold the elected/bureaucratic class responsible for their squandering, pandering, illegal ways. Frankly, I fear that it is way too late for any of this to happen. Too many of us have become dependent of the teat of government, to wean ourselves off the dole. It truly is sad and a waste of what was the greatest political experiment in world history.
I would like to thank my great teachers of both Civics and History classes for teaching me the differences of what is right, wrong and a Right. Too bad we have so few great teachers left in the profession, but alas that is a different subject for another time.
We are honored and humbled by the
two prior responses. The good news
is…that we are still talking about it…..so it is never too late to change things that matter.
As long as we dialogue and exchange
intelligent ideas…..”Yes..we
Can!”
As I have said before, the crops for fuel idea is a bad idea. Besides the food loss it also wastes way too much water.
The rest of it, Silence Dogood already said, and I fully agree.
(and I thought Ben Franklin was dead…?)
Perhaps there are more libertarians around than I thought.
Maybe there is a ray of hope.
#2 There is that pesky line in the constitution “…to promote the general welfare,..” vague, but powerful and IMPORTANT. You Libertarian IDIOTS can’t see that unfettered capitalism would make modern day SERFS of 99.9% of us. The Republicans have made a good start on this reality, the Walton family fortune currently is equal to the bottom 120 million Americans net worth. Bush even wants to add to this disparity by eliminating the inheritance tax, that would give the Walton family an extra 32 billion [ Bush vetoed SCHIP, 35 billion that would have provided healthcare for 5 million kids, on the premise that we couldn’t afford it]. If we continue down this road, we WILL become a third world country.