Across the Nation: Grain silos are almost empty.......

[longbow]

Do you know last years poor harvest and overseas sales of grain have left many large storage silos almost empty. I visited several large sites the last two days and 1,000,000 bushel storage silos were empty and clean. One site could handle 5 million bushels, but all he had on hand was 40,000. Last year after the harvest is had less than 300,000 bushels.

Don't totally panic, because many farmers are holding grain, and the harvest this year should be pretty good. My take away is two years of bad grain harvests in the USA would really hurt the entire world. I've read articles, highlighting the low grain surplus levels, but this was an eye opener.

Many of the larger farms I deal with have added large storage silos in the last few years to hold more grain until they get the price they want. One farmer north of Indy can dry and store almost 2 million bushels before he runs out of room.

 

[metaldog]

Not to mention the use of corn in production of Ethanol for all the Prius & Fiats out there. GRRR!

 

[mrjarrell]

Yep. We'd certainly be better off if we'd stop burning our food for ethanol.

 

[dmarsh8]

Not to mention the use of corn in production of Ethanol for all the Prius & Fiats out there. GRRR!

 

[bingley]

Go on Atkins' diet. The nation could use some collective weight loss.

 

[hountzmj]

Two years of bad harvests would be bad for the US, but horrifically tragic for the rest of the world.

Year 1 would see higher prices, but everyone would get by. Year 2 would see massively higher prices and I think we would see exports severely restricted or even banned. Could take 3 years to get to that level, but 2 would be pretty bad all alone.

 

[45calibre]

Go on Atkins' diet. The nation could use some collective weight loss.

definately, you know muricans love their grains

 

[giovani]

Considering the population of the world has doubled in my lifetime,i'd say were doing pretty well.

 

[bingley]

definately, you know muricans love their grains

Carbs have a big effect on weight gain, even if you don't eat a lot of it. If you cut out carbs completely, your body starts burning fat even if you eat sufficiently, leading to weight loss.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

Ah, the false Malthusianism is alive and well!

There is enough food in this world to feed everyone alive and another double the world's population.

Handily. The hunger problem is resultant from a lack of distribution/ability to pay for it.

Even after foreign corporations took over much of Argentina's agribusiness/cattle slaughterhouses through vast land purchases, the 'world's granary,' as it was known for decades, still yielded beef and grain enough to export and make healthy profits from - there just wasn't too much left for Argentines. Which makes sense considering the vast debasement of the Argentine peso versus the euro at the time of their latest crisis.

We're destined, through governmental interference in the free market, to have suboptimal outcome. But anyone with a patch of land big enough for a grown man to lay down on can produce food if he is in an even remotely temperate climate. As explained to me by a vintner of a winery in Morganfield, Kentucky - most of Kentucky is in the same climate as the celebrated south of France.

The fact that we lose the first six billion bushels of corn to the EPA's bioethanol mandate is rather worrisome to the unprepared and rather annoying to capitalists.

However, if you've prepared for this contingency - the absolute malevolence and inefficiency of government - then let the EPA siphon off all the corn. They still won't have your corn, or my corn.

Short of dismantling the ridiculous EPA and all the similarly useless and invasive executive agencies, there isn't much left to do but prepare as best as one is able, and to simply wait.

 

[spectre327]

If we were reducing the demand on fuel by developing more ethanol for use in the USA, then by all means, our grain supply would be worth using in this respect. HOWEVER, with the current forced dependence on OPEC, I am concerned that our food supply is dropping for the benefit of those who hate us. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[Kart29]

Do we even eat much field corn or soybeans? I think the majority of the field corn goes to feed cattle and other livestock. I don't know what the soybeans go into but I don't think most of it is used for human food.

We grow some wheat around here and even more out west, I think. But really, are empty field corn and soybean silos going to have much effect on the human food supply? I'm sure it would make the price of beef and other meat go way up. Other than that, I don't think people really eat much food that comes from field corn and soybeans. If things got in a bind, I'm sure land could be changed over from growing field corn and soybeans to growing people food.

I read once that the state of Iowa could grow enough food to supply the entire world population. Of course that was 20 years ago.

 

[ashby koss]

Go on Atkins' diet. The nation could use some collective weight loss.

You do realize that a large portion of corn grown in the US, let alone Indiana, is for cattle. So in reality the "eat more meat" idea has little bearing on Corn Levels.

 

[corngrower]

Don't forget that ethanol only uses one third of the kernel the rest then goes on to livestock as usable feed. The corn is not gone from the food chain just because fuel has been made. Soybeans are the same way once the oil is extracted. The meal becomes feedstock for hogs. Chickens and fish

 

[CountryBoy19]

Don't forget that ethanol only uses one third of the kernel the rest then goes on to livestock as usable feed. The corn is not gone from the food chain just because fuel has been made. Soybeans are the same way once the oil is extracted. The meal becomes feedstock for hogs. Chickens and fish

True, but the brewers grain is less ideal and often must be fed in limited quantities...

For example, fed in higher quantities in hogs you end up with a yellow colored belly fat instead of white... who wants to look at yellow fat on their bacon?

 

[Cozy439]

Yep. We'd certainly be better off if we'd stop burning our food for ethanol.

Stop burning it and store it for a few years in charred oak barrels................

 

[Sfrandolph]

FYI, this time of year the farmers are emptying their grain bins to make room for the new harvest.

 

[tocaman]

Not to mention the use of corn in production of Ethanol for all the Prius & Fiats out there. GRRR!

Neither one of those cars use E85 in the US. It's more American cars, big pickups and SUVs. But keep picking on the small fuel efficient vehicles if it makes you feel better.

List of flexible-fuel vehicles by car manufacturer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[hooky]

Neither one of those cars use E85 in the US. It's more American cars, big pickups and SUVs. But keep picking on the small fuel efficient vehicles if it makes you feel better.

List of flexible-fuel vehicles by car manufacturer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There's more to ethanol use than E85.

 

[tocaman]

There's more to ethanol use than E85.

I'm not sure what your statement is trying to say, I'm just pointing out those two cars aren't E85 to hopefully clear up any misconception metaldog might have. Or (I suspect) he just has something against those foreign cars.

I don't agree with using ethanol in gasoline as much as any other informed person.