It’s funny you call it food since it’s a commodity that we’ve had to find creative ways to get rid of. About 10% is turned into human food, half of which is corn syrup which contributes to our obesity problem. Ethanol serves no purpose outside of making a few people lots of money, and the rest is animal feed, which is not good for them. There are many other ways to produce actual food that we aren’t embracing because it would take money out of a few pockets, lest we forget the subsidies being the largest welfare program in the United States since 1939. This useless commodity is wrought with negative consequences but for whatever reason, we just buy into the propaganda.
The reason this exists is because special interests lobby effectively with intense focus to get their way while the rest of us don’t possibly have time to fight every industry.
Sugar is ten times costlier than it should be due to 10,000 sugar producers all having a heavy handed interest in lobbying for protections from government to keep their profits high.
Same thing with corn. Subsidies benefit the few, but the many that don’t benefit have their own bills to pay and don’t have incentive to stop the status quo, nor the energy and time.
So, the core issue here is the government picking winners and losers. The corn issue like sugar is the symptom of that core issue.
For a more thorough take on this idea see the book “A Conflict of Visions” by the legendary author Thomas Sowell.
South Dakota Voice Response: Scott, thank you for joining the conversation. Sadly, Substack is located in San Francisco and they put their address on everything even if you are located in South Dakota. I wish we could find a South Dakota company providing a writing platform, but we haven't been able to find one. The articles are written to encourage dialog. It is nice to have someone with your experience giving his viewpoint. It is very helpful.
Email comment from SV: "Your commentary on the remarkable advancements in efficiency American agriculture has made is right on target. However, I have several issues with your remarks after that. I am curious about what your background is, where you are from and where you got your information for writing this article. I am proud to be a SD farmer and cattle feeder who raises high quality grains and beef that are used for food, fuel, industrial products, livestock feed, white tablecloth steaks and many more products. American agriculture provides the safest, most nutritious and inexpensive food supply in the world. I noticed the address at the bottom of your publication is San Francisco. Makes me wonder.....
Anyone who grew up around farmers know the care and love put into their animals and feed. The only critics of farm values all live in cities they never stepped outside of. Unfortunately those critics tend to decide elections with their numbers in cities. Luckily the flight from the blue cities after the political violence of democrats in 2020 has made this situation change enough to hand the country to the republicans again, who used to be crazy with bush Clinton neocon warmongering but now those same warmongerers have sided with the dems…
It’s funny you call it food since it’s a commodity that we’ve had to find creative ways to get rid of. About 10% is turned into human food, half of which is corn syrup which contributes to our obesity problem. Ethanol serves no purpose outside of making a few people lots of money, and the rest is animal feed, which is not good for them. There are many other ways to produce actual food that we aren’t embracing because it would take money out of a few pockets, lest we forget the subsidies being the largest welfare program in the United States since 1939. This useless commodity is wrought with negative consequences but for whatever reason, we just buy into the propaganda.
The reason this exists is because special interests lobby effectively with intense focus to get their way while the rest of us don’t possibly have time to fight every industry.
Sugar is ten times costlier than it should be due to 10,000 sugar producers all having a heavy handed interest in lobbying for protections from government to keep their profits high.
Same thing with corn. Subsidies benefit the few, but the many that don’t benefit have their own bills to pay and don’t have incentive to stop the status quo, nor the energy and time.
So, the core issue here is the government picking winners and losers. The corn issue like sugar is the symptom of that core issue.
For a more thorough take on this idea see the book “A Conflict of Visions” by the legendary author Thomas Sowell.
South Dakota Voice Response: Robert, thank you for joining the conversation.
Email from RS: "Just pour the chemicals on and watch it grow. Why do you think there is so much cancer."
South Dakota Voice Response: Scott, thank you for joining the conversation. Sadly, Substack is located in San Francisco and they put their address on everything even if you are located in South Dakota. I wish we could find a South Dakota company providing a writing platform, but we haven't been able to find one. The articles are written to encourage dialog. It is nice to have someone with your experience giving his viewpoint. It is very helpful.
Email comment from SV: "Your commentary on the remarkable advancements in efficiency American agriculture has made is right on target. However, I have several issues with your remarks after that. I am curious about what your background is, where you are from and where you got your information for writing this article. I am proud to be a SD farmer and cattle feeder who raises high quality grains and beef that are used for food, fuel, industrial products, livestock feed, white tablecloth steaks and many more products. American agriculture provides the safest, most nutritious and inexpensive food supply in the world. I noticed the address at the bottom of your publication is San Francisco. Makes me wonder.....
Anyone who grew up around farmers know the care and love put into their animals and feed. The only critics of farm values all live in cities they never stepped outside of. Unfortunately those critics tend to decide elections with their numbers in cities. Luckily the flight from the blue cities after the political violence of democrats in 2020 has made this situation change enough to hand the country to the republicans again, who used to be crazy with bush Clinton neocon warmongering but now those same warmongerers have sided with the dems…
As usual, the hippies were right.