Politics just isn't my favorite thing to write about but I still want to congratulate our new president and I might add, I would not want his job - however throwing good money after bad (bailouts), isn't going to help near as much as putting power/money back into the hands of common people. People like me who didn't buy the million dollar house we can't afford. Yes there are a few of us who still know how to budget, but this so called economic crisis nearly caught me and our family business and left us without. WHY? I did explain some of this in a earlier blog so please keep reading. It still amazes me that a percentage of big spenders or shall I call them 'borrowers', can cause so much damage and 'no' our family business could still be in trouble!
I also hit upon some environmental issues in earlier blogs and on the acres of green website. I know the weather patterns have changed but I don't really know why. The 'greenhouse' effect wouldn't leave my fields in such a drought condition then flood my neighbor state, would it? Is this just a media event? Maybe it's my religion! NO there's some thin else in the air!!!
Yes the air is still dirty, not as bad as in the past but our future is still along way from being out of danger. Of course we have several million more vehicles on the road now than in the past so it's a balancing act between cars and industry both of which send vast amounts of carbon into the air every single day! I'm going to guess cars and trucks are now the biggest polluters of our atmosphere.
Trust me when I tell U carbon dioxide isn't the only pollutant we should be worried about. If this is such a bad substance how could it have been present with oxygen, both more abundant than today and supporting the largest land animal to walk planet Earth? HOW? Yes I mean the dinosaur! This massive creature lived in a time when oxygen and carbon dioxide levels were several times greater than today yet were told this substance could end our existence. NOT SO!
If UR part of the 'green movement' U need to know something. There are several people and movements that want that dollar in UR pocket and will say and do nearly anything to convince U to send it to them- don't. If they don't have an answer or do research ETC, don't send them money, they only bother busy people. U tell me how we can not build new gasoline, diesel and other refineries
I am now working on the energy part of the acres of green concept. If you have money in your pocket this is the time to send it 'to me'. Buying one of our certificates is helping me to build the carbon reduction plant I am designing, or if UR interested I may have away for U to invest in this project. We are starting to experiment with different fuels in the next 7days or so.
If a parcel of land produces 100 bushels of corn per acre it will produce 250 gallons of alcohol. A bushel of corn generally will produce 2.5 gallons of alcohol. However some land will produce more corn and some less, this is an example.
Keep in mind the by product of the distillation process 'brewers grain', in used in cow feed and is not wasted. Try feeding the by-product of gasoline to something! No don't - it would die!
]]>I'll start with the banks. In our countries recent past it was common for families to eventually save some money, of course some folk seem to always have money. This savings was usually placed in a savings account at a local bank. This bank would relend this money to others wanting to borrow. The bank would loan a percentage of what it had available from it's reserves. Later the banks could borrow money from a central bank and reloan that money to who ever wanted to borrow. This bank is not a part of the US government, did you know that? Our Federal Reserve is not a US institution!
Although this worked for many decades it didn't provide enough money for power hungery banks wanting to expand so they found a way to sell loans they made for cash. Of course the buyer also made money by paying a smaller percentage of what the loan would actually be worth. For example a US savings bond You might pay $75 dollars for the bond that is worth $100 dollars at the end of the bond's term, say five years, at which time the government will give you $100 dollars for that bond! The banking system's setup is more complex but this is a good example.
Bankers wanting to expand and loan millions instead of thousands now had the means to do so. By selling loans they made to a third party the sky was the only limit. This was the start of our decline. Wall Street was more than happy to buy loans and had billions to do so. Consumers could get nearly any amount they wanted provided they had a job and good credit and the bubble not only started, it grew into a monster - and bailout's won't be enough to control it.
Getting this monster under control will be a long, painful experience few of the younger generation has ever experienced. My dad lived through the market crash of '29' and he related a few pains along the way. Today we have government programs that help but these may run out of money sooner than later and if the Fed's start printing money again to fund these programs we'll have a round of inflation/depression none of us can imagine.
The only way we can survive is to start saving our money and hope the presidents new plan works. Keep in mind this is a similar plan used to turn '29' around but there will be a lot of changes in our future.
]]>First I want to add some history and a comment. The family farm has given this country ample food for more than a century. This institution is being threatened by large farms and basic greed. This maynot be good for our countries future as these farms operate to make the most money and maynot have the best interest of consumers, animals and productive land at hand. Hence recent news footage of a cow being struck repeatedly by a forklift and other events. Most people I know would not do this.
Now let me finish my ear corn story. I was researching methods for a machine to remove the kernels from the cob. I had a hard time finding US companies who build commercial and food grade machinery to start with and the process was not to be found.
I did come across a Google 'answers' segment that disturbed me. Unfortunatly Google no longer accepts questions on this program. The question the person had asked was 'how do you seperate the kernels from the cob'? The answers were bad! Now many of you have eaten corn on the cob and you understand this is a tasty albeit messy way to eat corn. The ear is picked long before a normal harvest machine or combine would be taken to the field. Some of this early harvesting would be done by hand and there are some large operators running mechanical harvestors. This type harvesting pulls the ear and removes the husks, known by the old timers as a ear corn picker. I was surprised that the people answering these questions would not know this and would tell that a combine would be used to harvest this type crop.
Now the picker used to harvest wet ear corn maybe modified from the old system, I don't know but these machines are very different in design and function. The combine removes the kernel from the cob and the cob goes out the back and on the ground. Why is this important? It just is!
]]>First let me hit on ethanol. Most people know this isn't a great product in it's present form considering the amount of fuel needed to produce a gallon of product. Other energies exist that would change this situation but that would mean we messed up the first time. The sun and methane would be excellent replacements for natural gas to produce alcohol and even produce power for our cities. I believe some of this type of generation is running today but it would only be a very small amount. The best thing about ethanol is it's portable you put it in your tank and drive.
Ethanol doesn't have to be made with straight corn. Other processing systems are coming on line but I also mentioned in a past blog that corn from the production plant is excellent feed for cattle. Food grade corn is usually contracted by a company who will want a certain type corn or even popcorn. This process does not interfere with human corn consumption, but it does produce more food (BEEF). In-other-words, U and I most likely don't eat cow corn! Now U may start to see that alcohol isn't the worst thing!
The UN says if we continue to use corn for fuel were all gonna starve, cows are polluting the atmosphere and drink something like 80% of the fresh water. OK this set me off! How many cows would it take to suck up one of our Great Lakes? How about the Mississippi? The problem is with how we distribute things. We have cities gobbling up vast amounts of prime farmland for new homes and businesses and sucking up huge amounts of water we could use to grow what ever we need. We have investors building ethanol plants in crazy places. My closest plant may fall victim to a water war, that is now causing a war between end users and irrigators.
Of course cows will still pass gas and so do other living creatures, but we can collect waste from both humans and animals, turn it into methane, run power generators, use the slurry for fertilizer, build alcohol plants by the water, stop building cities on prime farm land and a number of other smart items we often over-look.
So, in this complex ongoing debate I ask "Where's the Water".
]]>Agriculture and blog writers didn't even make the grade- which also means nothing has changed!
Have a great day!
]]>A couple days ago I seen a show on how they get food to our super-markets in such a hurry for us consumers to snap-up. They showed huge ships, trucks, vans and large distribution centers. I sat through the entire program wondering if anything ever went wrong. Of course they do.
Years ago the American farmer raised enough grain and livestock to feed the US and other countries to. Today they can still do the same. Less than 1% of our countries population are farmers, making this industry one of the most efficient in the world. This figure doesn't include the new hobby farms but if you did count them it would still surprise us.
Yes the day of the local farmer/rancher/butcher are nearing the end, in favor of corporate conglomerations that have little to do with farming and a-lot to do with making money. The show I watched not only showed me how fast and efficient things worked, it also showed me how fast things could get out of hand!
In the old days if you needed milk, the milkman would bring it, if you wanted a steak or some ground round the local butcher was usually happy to help. Corn and wheat flour was usually done with a commercial company but different rules and attitudes seemed to exist then. Yes times have changed ... but are they better? How can we be sure several of those big containers don't carry something we really don't want? What's to say someone with a grudge won't sabotage the food chain somewhere down the line?
Some incidents are simply beyond anyones control and we may have isolated incidents at anytime, but are we doing enough to keep our food safe? It would be my guess that we are not. With so much freight moving here and abroad I don't see how this mass of food could ever be kept 100% safe!
Politicians need to say no to countries that still use pesticides and insecticides that have been baned in this country for decades and a system needs to be in place to trace a food product back to it's origin, and be able to act quickly in-case of incident.
With all the traveling we and our food does- how do we keep everyone and every container safe?
]]>Several times in my ventures I have come across articles I have to comment on. In one of my blogs I told how ethanol was made. It is a very simple process where by you nearly boil corn mixed with water, the alcohol rises, is collected and the corn slurry is fed to animals. If you would like to read it just search for the word ethanol and look under acres of green.
In the same blog I also stated that using one energy source to produce another energy source didn't seem like the best way. Using natural gas for instance to produce ethanol, because the fuel U get isn't much better than what you had, if any.
Years ago an attempt was made to introduce ethanol as an alternate fuel. Back then cars had carburetors instead of fuel injection and they would run on this product. Well oil prices dropped, ethanol plants shut down and politicians went their separate ways and might I add, buried there heads very quickly! I believe this occurred in late 70ies early 80ies.
Today the same thing is happening again. Government mentions ethanol and millions of dollars pour into plants. Farmers think their going to make money and then??? Today we have other means of making this product. Everyone jumped into producing alcohol out of corn, now we can use other products to do this, including crop residue and several different kinds of grasses.
I read a story the other day that by doing this we would put much more pollutants in the air because all this land would have to be harvested. Well MOST of this land will be harvested anyway. It doesn't really matter for what. Modern machines are fast, fuel efficient and very productive. The end product would be ethanol and more animal feed.
Now a final word. I have studied the futures market for several years. I don't trade much but I do watch the markets for aid in selling my corn. Grain markets were recently trading at levels never before seen in the industry. Of course speculators did the bidding and commercials were doing the selling, many sold to soon and were really hurting with margin calls. Now here comes my last word.
From what I see in the charts, if gas and crude oil ever take off again we could see prices that are so high, many of us could no longer afford them. In-other-words much higher than we have already seen. Is this possible? I don't know, but I would like another option to power my vehicle!
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]]>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.
]]>Since I do raise beef, corn, wheat and sometimes a big garden I can tell you now raising beef takes little time compared to raising grain and several times less labor than raising vegetables. I quit growing gardens because the weeds and insects usually took over, and the labor required was a back killer. Field production would be easier because many crops can be sprayed or cultivated. However cultivated rows still require spray or hoe work in-between the plants. For anyone who has done extensive work with a hoe you know what I mean. Spreading vine crops like watermelon still need personal attention.
The article I read said that producing vegetables uses less fossil fuels than raising beef. I don't know where this kind of information comes from, but I do know a cow/calf pair roams the country-side without any mechanical (fossil burning), aid what-so-ever. The time spent in a feed-lot is very short, normally ninety days or less at which time grinders and feed trucks do operate. I won't have time here to lay-out how much fuel this uses but it would not be that much per animal. Just figure a grinder would use 10gal. diesel per hour and a feed truck would use about the same. A truck would carry twenty ton and a cow would eat up-to twenty-five pounds per daily serving. A truck should be able to feed two pens per hour, or from fifty to two hundred cows per hour. I let you do the math.
Don't let anyone fool you. Replacing beef with a different diet is going to be tough! And when You stop and think about it, cattle eating this ration usually grow faster and reach a heavier weight than those who eat dry hay and dry corn rations. Yes there are problems with feeding to much wet grain but a good manager can figure it out. May I say we could have more to eat instead of less, so grab a burger and a six-pack, and enjoy!
]]>Let me say I am amazed by the number of blog pages I have seen. Some have been very interesting. I started this one because I am at the front of some amazing and interesting activity. I don't want to overshadow the people who are living along our countries coasts where massive rain, wind and damage is occuring during the many hurricanes that seem to be coming faster and more often than in the past. At last count there were three storms on the seas, most likely heading for our coasts.
Having said the above I would like to thank my helper Pam, you can read her blog at www.acresofgreen.com/blog it's entitled Pam's Perils and gives some insite into our daily lives. Now on to business.
Yes I am a Farmer, not a large farmer but it keeps me busy. I also do Ranching this keeps me busy to. I have a need for fertilizer. Fertilizer is more costly today than any time in history and I am told it is not going to drop in price. I want everyone to read my story on www.acresofgreen.com and give me your thoughts here on this page. If you read all of the website you will understand what I am talking about and what gave me the idea to start Acres Of Green.
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