Corn prices continue rise and news stories related to this problem are increasingly common. Last week I saw an ABC News story blaming the rise of corn prices on the increasing demand of ethanol as an alternative fuel source. The ABC story led us to the plight of dairy farmers who must pay more to feed their cattle. Increased demand for corn means farmers devote more space to growing it and less to other grains. A rise of corn means a rise in the basic products that rely upon.
An article on April 15 by ABC News claims that scientists are engineering an alternative ethanol that does not rely on corn:
Scientists at DuPont Co., for instance, have been tinkering with the DNA of an agave-loving bug in a bid to make ethanol from corn waste rather than the kernel itself. Working with $19 million of its own money and the same amount from a Department of Energy grant, the chemical company hopes to have a pilot plant in operation by 2010.
The idea is to genetically engineer microscopic bugs such as bacteria and fungus to spit out enzymes that will break down just about every imaginable crop into ethanol. This would theoretically fulfill President Bush’s initiative to support flexible-fuel vehicles, which are capable of using gasoline and ethanol blends, and to cut gas consumption by 20 percent in 10 years.
While it is wonderful that we are taking more interest in the sustainable future of our world, a number of issues are ignored. First, this debate does not look into our own trade agreements that led us to this point. Mexicans are reliant on the importation of U.S. corn because their domestic policies no longer support their domestic corn growers. Second, with ethanol production we neglected to look to our future and the potential side effects of this technology. What are the side effects of this new technology that involves microscopic bugs? And finally, who are U.S. scientists and policies attempting to benefit? Is it possible for the U.S. to develop a truly global sustainable policy?
[What I am also neglecting in this blog is an analysis of how the world food economy can not be sustained as long as we continue to use our grains to feed the meat industry and subsequently the fast food industry. But that is a discussion for another day.]
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