Feeding the world — Facts and fantasies

Barking up the wrong tree. Making a mountain out of a mole hill. Those cliches apply to the people distraught about ethanol taking away food producing acres.

The world produces an abundance of starchy food (e.g., potatoes, cassava and corn), but barely enough protein. The process for producing ethanol only uses the starch in corn. The protein, vitamins, minerals, fibers, and oils are recombined into livestock feed. Livestock products are good sources of protein to be sold here and abroad.

About 15 years ago ethanol demand increased abruptly. Petroleum’s MTBE, which was being added to gasoline for clean air requirements in polluted cities, was determined to be a carcinogen. Because particulates in the air we breathe are a health concern, clean burning ethanol became a common substitute.

As far as blaming ethanol for CO2 pipelines, ethanol is merely the low hanging fruit of the many industries targeted for net zero CO2 emission goals.

The concern about ethanol wasting food acres misses much bigger food supply worries.

India rivals the United States for acres in crop production. Compared to the U.S., much farming still is done with oxen and hand labor instead of modern machinery and technology. India’s 5-year double crop soybean yield is less than half that of U.S. double cropped soybeans. The 5-year corn yield in India is about one-third that of the US.

Technology shortfalls are also a problem for organic farming. It has been widely reported that organic food production would need some 15 percent more acres to produce as much as modern farming with its technology benefits.

Using USDA harvest data, an investigative report conducted in 2014 determined that if the United States used all organic production, we would have to farm an additional area four times as large as the harvested cropland in Iowa.

GMOs are broadly supported by both science and medical institutions but face opposition from various activist groups. Bt engineered corn has reduced specific insect loss by as much one billion dollars annually. Golden Rice, with it’s vitamin C modification, could save millions of Asian children from blindness and death if not opposed.

3.1 billion people struggle to pay for a healthy diet. Meanwhile, over $5 trillion dollars has been spent worldwide on inconsistent wind and solar electricity to achieve just 4 percent of the world’s total energy production.

Harvard University scientists have produced a map which revises the world’s crop land use for the purpose of abating the “climate crisis.” That map reduces crop land use by nearly two-thirds. Africa is expected to practically eliminate crops in favor of CO2 absorbing trees.

Regrettably, the Harvard goal is already in progress. The Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, and Sri Lanka have all attempted legislation to reduce livestock and crop fertilizer in order to save humanity from the “climate crisis.”

The BBC reports that the Netherlands, a food exporting country, will use climate legislation to “close 11,200 farms and another 17,600 farmers will have to significantly reduce their livestock.”

Sri Lanka’s government ordered all farmers to use “climate friendly” organic farming methods. However, a subsequent 30 percent drop in rice yields has changed their minds for now. New Zealand intends to impose a climate tax on livestock burping and peeing. Lower profit means fewer farmers.

There’s wisdom in another cliché; Don’t bite the hand that feeds you!

Curt Zingula is a graduate of Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture, farmed for 46 years and served as a Director on Iowa’s Watershed Improvement Review Board.