Why are we using corn for fuel?

Question

We use corn for so much of our foods, now that they are using corn for fuel it is driving up the cost of everything else, there are so many other plants we could use.

Answer 1

Primaries; Iowa Corn, Tax money,

I think they are all related.

Answer 2

Because the very large corporate producers of corn crops had deemed it to be the 'best' for ethanol production.

They have a history of this behavior.

Reference high fructose corn syrup in your soft drink (AND most of your foods)

Answer 3

yeah, palm oil is better.

Answer 4

It seems pretty sick to me too when a lot of the world is starving BUT it is a cheap, RENEWABLE source of vegetable oil which burns just as well as mineral oil and a lot CLEANER.  We are also currently subsidizing American farmers for their crops - which means paying them NOT to grow it because an abundance drives prices down AND because it keeps farmers from going bankrupt in times when there is a huge crop so prices are depressed - supply and demand you know - if there's lots of something nobody pays anything for it.  That said, I guess the thought is we may as well BURN the surplus and reduce our dependency on foreign oil - a dwindling and non-renewable commodity - as PAY tax dollars to farmers to NOT GROW it.  What a world, what a world...

Answer 5

because we are running out of gas DUH

Answer 6

Corn is a renewable source of consumer goods...both food and fuel...whereas, fossil fuel is rapidly being depleted...which is the worse of two evils in your opinion?

Answer 7

Right you are. We should use arid land inedibles like jatropha seeds.

Answer 8

o well =]

Answer 9

we need to go back to horse and buggy ?.

Answer 10

you can do without using corn, as it will drive up the price of everything!

a better plant to use is Sage Grass, which grows freely in the state of maryland. The MD hwy admin grows it on the sides of the hwys here.

it can also be easily converted into fuel

Answer 11

We have a surplus of corn, which is stored away, and subsidized by the government.  If it can become an alternative source of energy, it is being used, before it can spoil in storage.

Answer 12

If you haven't noticed CRUDE OIL is not cheap either . and corn is a cheap and abundant commodity

Get everyone to stop driving unnecessary so much and prices will come down

Answer 13

Probably because it is easy to grow and matures quickly.

Answer 14

It's efficiant and easy to make. Who says its even possible to make fuel from other things?

Answer 15

cheaper than gas

Answer 16

because corn is the most abundant and efficient crop that we have here. it is true that there are more efficient crops such as sugar cane, but that is not as abundant as corn.

Answer 17

Because companies like ADM write big checks to politicians of both parties. Burning food while people starve is immoral