Acres Of Green + Movable Type Blog

  I have read and listened to more ethanol stories than any other and most are very disturbing. I cannot believe politicians or those running for office don't do there homework before saying something that is only partially true. Now I want to add and subtract from this mass of input and give my readers a slightly different aspect.

  First of all let me say I never have agreed with using one energy source to produce another, but you and I are so dependent on electricity and the power company, we don't have any other choice. When my dad was young and getting started there were no electric power lines overhead. Electricity was produce for the house and barn by a low voltage wind-charger and three car size batteries that held the charge and powered the lights when the wind didn't blow. Of course power outages were common with the old system!

  Ethanol is produced when water is added to corn and heated in a vat, (a kettle is for distillers and is usually copper), the vat is heated to 174 degrees and the alcohol steams it's way up and through a pipe into a cooling tower. Again most ethanol plants use natural gas to heat the vat! Once the alcohol has been removed the slurry is dumped and the process is repeated.

  Now here comes the tricky part, with questions right? What happens to the slurry you ask? Well it is fed to cattle. The slurry is high in protein, mixed with dry ground hay and/or green chop, placed in a mixer truck and fed in concrete bunks. The cows love it and there is NO waste. However hog and chicken barns are not equipped to handle this product. All their feed needs to be dry. Yes you can dry the slurry for feeding hogs and chickens but this costs extra. Barns could be modified to handle this product but again your looking at additional labor.

  Don't let anyone tell you using corn for fuel is making the world starve. True it has increased the value of corn but most of this was done by speculators, yes the same ones that ran gasoline and crude oil to new highs, and put a crimp on my wallet. All grains used in the manufacture of fuel have a byproduct left when the process is done. Most would be used for animal feed, but I doubt we run out of flakes for breakfast, corn chips or corn-bread anytime soon!

  Here is a quick fact for you to ponder. A bushel of corn weighs 58 lbs, say after cleaning the processor has 50 lbs left, say you buy a one pound bag of corn chips for $2 bucks. Say corn is selling for $5 bucks a bushel at my elevator when delivered. For anyone able to do math this isn't looking good. I just sold my grain for a whopping ten cents a pound based on 50 usable pounds  instead of 58 lbs, and when you buy your paying a whopping $100 bucks a bushel, 50 lbs X 2 bucks a bag. I hope your starting to get the message and don't be fooled! Even if corn went to $10 bucks a bushel it would only make a dimes difference.

  However, weather patterns are not stable, here and elsewhere on Acres of Green website are examples of this. Eastern states including the corn belt are experiencing either extreme flooding or extreme drought and that is in the same state. Other sources say 17 percent of Iowa and Illinois corn acres were never planted because of these severe patterns. Many acres were planted late and these plants are subject to frost. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Is global warming the problem? Or is our planet just getting tired?

You can be sure I'll have more on the ethanol debate at a later date.