How do you think the increasing use of ethanol as an alternative fuel source will impact our agriculture?

Question

I need to look up information on ethanol, and I know that it's going to increase the prices of food. Ethanol itself is more expensive than gasoline, and I don't believe it is a great way to improve our environment. What do you think?

Answer 1

More CO2 form the cars using it and the burning to clear the land to grow the crop.

Answer 2

It will raise the prices of many things like-even meat because livestock eat corn and soy.  It will use up a lot of land.  There will be less food supply.

Here is a solution I have found-Algae Biofuel

Algae Biofuel

-With our current biodiesel feedstocks, like soy and palm, there’s no way we could grow enough to supply all of our transportation needs.  In fact, it would actually require twice the land area of the US devoted to soybean production to meet current heating and transportation needs.

-Algae, on the other hand, could supply all U.S. diesel power using a mere 0.2% of the nation’s land.

-Enough algae can be grown to replace all transportation fuels in the U.S. on only 15,000 square miles or 4.5 million acres of land.

- Algae is the highest yielding feedstock for biodiesel, producing 24 times more oil per acre, on average, than the next leading feedstock--palm oil at 635 gallons/acre/year.

-One company can produce 180,000 gallons of biodiesel every year from just one acre of algae. That comes to about 4,000 barrels, at a cost of $25 per barrel or $.59 per gallon.

-To put that in perspective, it takes 3,750 acres of soy to make the same amount of biodiesel at a cost of about $2.50 per barrel for 4,000 barrels.

-It is possible to use human sewage and wastewater from agricultural endeavors to enhance the growth of algae.  In fact, when done right, algae can double and even triple overnight with the addition of these fertilizers.

-Plus, as algae grows it absorbs C02 from the air.

-In addition, fertilizer for other food crops can be produced by using the leftover nutrients that aren’t used to make the biofuel.

Answer 3

I agree it is not the best fuel source and it will starve people driving up the price of crops.  It is just a money making scam

Answer 4

It will make the cost of corn chips to sky rocket which would make me mad because I like corn chips.

Answer 5

Everything in life seems to have two sides to it.

The good that Ethanel would do to the environment is offset by the fact that too many farmers are switching to grownig corn for the fuel and there is already an effect that is not good.   Food prices in some of the developing countries are going up and most people cannot afford to buy the food they need to stay alive.   We are facing massive starvation problems now.

When the world decends to the "Haves and the Have-nots, we will have chaos.

Sometimes the solution to one problem only brings on another problem.

Answer 6

I guess farming is going to become REALLY big business..

they need to find a way to use burnt garbage as a fuel source..

Answer 7

Ethanol is to costly and the corn crop depleats the land nutreints so you end up having to let you land set to replenish its self..again hemp comes into play,,hemp is a weed that does not eat up the nutreints  so you plant ever yr. no need to let your land set. make oil from the seeds, clothing from the plant, even car parts...there was a time when you could pay your taxes with hemp.the best would be H20

Answer 8

the production of ethanol is at the cost of the Environment ,the animals ,the people working at ethanol production,the land needed for food production and food prices.

Bad for everyone except for the people who want to make money with it.

Not to mention that the industry produces more carbon emissions than all of the factories and the cars put together on this planet

read second article down

http://byderule.multiply.com/journal/ite...

Answer 9

You know what, my husband is a farmer and a tool die maker. Inorder for us to save our money for fuel. He came up a new idea of running our tractor with hydrogen generator. It will run this month already. Lots of trucking companies call us for reservation.. just visit our site http:/www.newfuelsaver.com, maybe we can help you also...Thank you

Answer 10

I think that the agricultural economy will increase drastically. Think about it they can produce and sell the fuel they make, they can also use it themselves. Now i don't know if this is irrevelant or not but i found this website that you can actually convert farm equipment to run on water and gasoline combined thus doubling your millage and efficency. It can also work with cars and trucks. You should go and check it out.

http://flitzer101.water4gas.hop.clickban...

Answer 11

It already is. Check out the prices at the supermarket as of late.

Yet another government made crisis.

Answer 12

There are ethenol companies that don't use soy or other crops. There is one that i know of called Colusa Biomass that uses discarded biowaste from farmers to produce ethenol. Basically the rice stocks that are discarded and usually burned by the farmers, is transformed into ethenol and other lubricants for use. Their stock index is CLME if you want more info.