[M.T. Pockets]

Farming is something that I do know about. I grew up on a farm in the 70's & 80's and still work with agriculture on a close basis. I have a cornfield in my back yard.

As for producing alcohol, the ethanol plants use #2 yellow corn. The same corn you'd grind & feed to livestock. I'm not sure of the exact price of corn at the local elevator today, but it's within a few cents of $1.80 per bushel. To put this in perspective, corn was over $3.00 for most of the 1980's. So, even without adjusting for inflation, the cost of the raw product to produce ethanol has never been lower. In the 1970's grain prices were almost twice what they are today, so ethanol production was not feasible, plus during the cold war the U.S. liked to have a large supply of grain on hand and didn't want it used for anything but food. Archer Daniels Midland has one of the largest ethanol plants in the U.S. 12 miles south of my house and they're making money hand over fist.

The largest ethanol plant contractor in the U.S. has is HQ 15 miles on to the other side of my house, he's got 35 plants in the works and on the drawing board for the next two years. So, things are gearing up for more alcohol production. I'm not sure if it will put a dent in the whole fuel supply, but there is an effort being made.

Technology has impacted farming as much as any other industry over the past decades. Now in my area an average corn crop would be 170 bu. per acre, a good crop over 220. 25 years ago you could have cut that in half. I'm confident that if it were feasible, production could increase even more.

As for the stalks and husks, they're either harvested for livestock feed/bedding or plowed under to add humus back to the soil.

High fuel costs hit farmers hard, since the economists classify them as "Price Taker's" they have no control over the price of their product, they can't pass on their fuel costs like other industries do with fuel charges. Fertilizers are also petroleum based and that increases production costs as well.

I'm convinced that American farmers could provide a reliable, relatively cheap supply of corn and soybeans. Supplies can be stored for years and an American farmer isn't going to hi-jack a plane and fly it into a building.

I think the biggest problem is with the whole marketing of ethanol. Archer Daniels Midland is about the only game in town. Anybody know who their CEO is ?? A former oil company executive. They could have a bigger monopoly over ethanol than the oil companies have with petroleum.