Never fear Dan,
We actually reduced our corn acres this year in favor of vegetable contracts
(green beans, sweet corn, peas) but it is a result of the high corn prices.
For the first time in a long time the vegetable processors were forced to
raise their prices to compete for acres that would be planted to corn. So
it made the vegetable contracts profitable... so far... the biggest problem
now is the increased input costs as a result of the corn/ethanol deal....
Fertilizer prices are up across the board 30% since December and that's IF
you can find it. We have 4 local suppliers and each of them run out of
product at least weekly. Some of this is due to foreign demand, but a lot
of it is due to the fact that corn requires more fertilizer than soybeans or
wheat, both of which have had acreage reductions this year.

The biggest fat cats are the large independently owned Ag organizations that
own farm land and actually farm it (so they can produce their own corn),
sell fertilizer ( so they can buy at wholesale prices to use on the corn
that they grow), and own an ethanol plant that is still currently building
or expanding an ethanol plant (still receiving govt subsidies), located on a
rail line (cheap freight in and out and non dependent upon local corn
supply/demand).

Jim

"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote:


But it must be done, or our country is being led down the primrose
path to perdition. The fact remains that converting corn into
ethanol, for the purpose of fueling automobiles, is simply absurd.

Oh, man, have you pushed my hot button!

If you were looking for one example that sums up practically everything
that's wrong with U. S. politics and government, you couldn't find a
better
one than corn-ohol subsidies.

Most Americans are getting ROBBED by this scam, while a few big farmers
and
Ag Corp's are getting rich.

Not only are we getting our money stolen directly by the gov't giveaways,
but
the diversion of corn to etanol and land to corn production has driven up
the
price of other crops, especially livestock feeds. This is producing
snowball
effects in all sorts of commodity pricing. Have you checked the current
cost
of a gallon of milk vs. a couple of years ago?

This country has serious energy problems, but we're not electing
leadership
with the gumption to do anything real about solving them. Write your
congress people and *demand* an end to corn ethanol subsidies. They won't
do
anything unless we push them.

--
Dan
T-182T at BFM