Farmers

[badart]

Not based on what I've heard and read. It's possible I have been misinformed. I don't grow or process corn myself, so I rely on the knowledge of others in this area.

If I am incorrect, perhaps you can just explain what is incorrect instead of registering your incredulity...

Most field corn is used up by non-food producers, used for feed or seed, etc. The kind you find in a can is sweet corn of course.

And with teeth like those... ...you'd have a hard time eating it off of the cob!

[Ren Butler]

Most field corn is used up by non-food producers, used for feed or seed, etc. The kind you find in a can is sweet corn of course.

Yeah, that's what I was suggesting -- there are different kinds of corn. And isn't the field corn (not the corn for human consumption) used in ethanol?

I've heard that about 1% of all corn grown is the sweet corn that humans eat.

[Sleepcheap]

Yeah, that's what I was suggesting -- there are different kinds of corn. And isn't the field corn (not the corn for human consumption) used in ethanol?

I've heard that about 1% of all corn grown is the sweet corn that humans eat.

OK, for canning or freezing of whole kernels. However, all your other corn products like corn starch, corn meal, corn oil, corn syrup and everyone's favorite, high fructose corn sweetener, are made from good old field corn. Corn flakes? Field corn. Not to mention a long list of common food additives such as dextrose or sorbitol. All of these are made by milling the hard kernels and "processing" the result.

Sweet corn could theoretically by used for these by letting it mature although it is likely to rot before denting due to higher sugar content. When I was a kid, we used to pull ears of field corn about this time of year for roasting ears.

One of the biggest complaints about using corn for ethanol is that corn is used in so many food products that it is raising the cost of food.

[Ren Butler]

Thanks. The sources I was looking at didn't share these details.

[turnrightgoleft]

Thanks. The sources I was looking at didn't share these details.

Here are some thoughts.

It is pretty complicated. In big round numbers that are being adjusted by the hour - 40% of U.S. field corn grain is used for animal feed (pigs, poultry, cattle, etc.), 40% is used for ethanol and DDG's, 10-20 % is exported, 10-20% is used in food, seed, sweetener, and industry (in Indinaapolis - National Starch and Cargill over by the hospitals).

One thing that is not often discussed is that 30% of a bushel of corn used for ethanol comes back as a high protein animall feed - DDG's, which replaces some soybean meal.

Food companies often use the cost of their raw materials as the basis to jack up prices, but the amount of corn in a box of corn flakes or in a can of Coke is tiny. If the price of corn would double, then the raw material cost of a box of corn flakes would only increase by 6-8 cents, assuming their are 12 ounces corn in a box of corn flakes. That is if the price doubles, which isn't going to happen.

The real losers in this drought might be livestock producers, who will see their cost of production skyrocket. It might affect the cost of meat in the distant future.

And whether or not we were producing ethanol at all right now, if we had a drought of this magnitude, the same problems would be happening.

[Truth Detector]

I get the humor. But, the reservoirs are independent of one another & are in different pressure districts, so one does not actually affect the other.

OK, Mr. Smart Guy...


From the article:

Holsapple said the utility -- a major supplier for most of Marion County, as well as suburban communities such as Fishers -- is changing its plan to protect what is left of Morse. She said in a few days Citizens Water will begin pulling about 6 million gallons extra per day from nearby Geist Reservoir while reducing what it pulls from Morse.

[Gateway Fan]

All of Missouri's counties have been declared disaster areas by the US Secretary of Agriculture.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/all...9bb30f31a.html

This could help local farmers.

[Ren Butler]

Geist Reservoir

Morse Reservoir

Eagle Creek Reservoir

On each page, note the Low Water Records at the bottom -- particularly for Morse.

[Hardscrabble]

And to think last year at this time I was in Omaha, Nebraska and the Missouri River was flooding over the banks...

And the Army Corps of Engineers was blowing up levees on the Mississippi...