Picking up some feed for my baby chicks, I remarked on the price of corn to Jack, who was loading the bags of grain into the back of my car. “Corn’s gone up a lot lately.”<\/p>\n
“Yeah,” he replies. “Bad weather in the midwest, commodities futures, and ethanol production. I’m growing corn myself, might as well make a few bucks while the price is high.”<\/p>\n
Those are his words, almost verbatim. He went on at length about how silly it is to grow corn for automotive fuel. And here I had thought just professionally “green” people felt that way.<\/p>\n
This is just a tiny little piece of what’s going to be considered next year when Congress works on a new Farm Bill<\/a>. That link will take you to the USDA official page on the farm bill of 2008. And here’s a link<\/a> to a more “alternative” perspective, though based on Jack’s remarks this morning, there’s growing consternation about US food and farm policies and “alternative” may no longer apply.<\/p>\n