4 posts tagged “king corn”
The US’ National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and several other food and agribusiness groups are opposing a drive by the ethanol industry to raise the percentage of ethanol that can legally be added to motor gasoline, a limit now set at 10% to protect engine performance and fuel mileage.
...the groups claim that the sharp increase in ethanol production since 2000 has contributed to volatile commodity prices and food price inflation. In addition, the groups argue that blends higher than E-10 should not be permitted until the EPA completes a lifecycle assessment of the effects of biofuels on climate change. They also call for further study on the effects of intermediate blends on engines.
...EPA is currently reviewing its 10% blend limit for gasoline used in conventional vehicles. It is considering whether to increase the limit to as much as 15% or 20%. Ethanol and corn interests argue that unless the blend percentage is increased, ethanol supply will outrun demand in the coming months...
Mega maize project in Madagascar planned
21 nov 2008
The South Korean company Daewoo Logistics wants to use 1 million hectares in Madagascar to grown maize. The company also wants to plant palm oil on the island...
..."We want to plant corn there to ensure our food security. Food can be a weapon in this world. We can either export the harvests to other countries or ship them back to Korea in case of a food crisis...
...The project could end up creating more than 70,000 jobs on the island...
...a European diplomat in Southern Africa commented that "there will be very little direct benefits [for Madagascar]", adding that "extractive projects have very little spill-over to a broader industrialisation". "The deal Daewoo is negotiating with the Madagascan government looks positively neo-colonial and the Madagascan people stand to lose half their arable land...
King Corn is bigger than oil... proof is provided.
Zimbabwean feed used for hungry people
03 oct 2008
"Armed men burst through the gates of my farm and hauled off the last of the maize (corn). I told them that the grain is for my stock and the men who work here and their families," a Zimbabwean farmer said -who asked to be anonymous for fear of reprisals. "I told them that now I'll have to slaughter my pigs because I've got nothing to feed them, but they took the maize anyway".
With just three weeks after the signing of the power-sharing deal, militants are all too aware that the new government will not back the policy of land seizures. The wholesale confiscation of the 280 remaining productive farms has created a potentially catastrophic food shortage and, in desperation, the government is seizing animal feed and any other grain it can find.
Many rural areas – notably parts of Matabeleland, Masvingo and Mashonaland – are already facing serious food shortages. In the cities, shops are bare of the cheaper basic maize, and supplies of the more expensive, refined variety are limited. Cooking oil has not been seen in many areas for weeks. The few stores that have milk, ration it.
The President's critics say the situation is entirely of his making because the farm seizures by ‘war veterans' have left huge tracts of land fallow.
The thousands of small-scale farmers Mugabe said were desperate to start planting have yet to materialise.
This is a link to a post by Charles Lemos on his blog By The Fault. It's worth the read. If you don't believe in King Corn... trust me corn is bigger than oil.
