Corn and the Climate: Part I, Biofuels

After addressing the concerns that many people have regarding corn derivatives within our food, someone must notice that I failed to mention the climate. This is, after all, a blog started in order to address climate change and food policy within a class focused on climate change. Where does corn fit in there?



Ontario Corn, a company that represents approximately 21,000 corn producers, addresses some of the pros and cons of corn production in general. While they state that growing corn can help to absorb a large percentage of Ontario's carbon emissions, the processing currently used puts CO2 back into the environment, and often the emissions and processing neutralize any absorption benefits. To address this, they have suggested different methods of tillage that might help increase the absorption rate and reduce carbon emissions. However, there are bigger concerns to be addressed than just the way in which corn is grown and collected.



Biofuels: Corn as Fuel


As a fuel source, biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, derived from corn and other feedstocks, sound at first like a practical solution to some of our alternative energy needs. Corn is a sustainable, renewable resource, right? However, there are growing concerns about the use of food stores to produce fuel. Not only are there questions about land usage and the diverting of food to humans and animals*, but the ways in which large corn producers grow their crops may add indirectly to carbon emissions and do more harm than good. An article from The Boston Globe discusses policies currently being considered in regard to using biofuels:

A year ago, researchers from Princeton, Georgetown, Iowa State, and Woods Hole found that increased production of corn-based ethanol would devour forests and grasslands, and possibly double greenhouse gas emissions over 30 years.

Archer Daniels Midland claims to be the "leading producer" of both ethanol and biodiesel, and that these biofuels are "the only alternative transportation fuels available to consumers." That statement alone is telling of a greater political climate in which reliable alternative sources of transportation are halted or hindered by corporate interests. However, as ADM makes clear by their absence of further mention of such a situation, it is not something for which they are concerned. After all, a continued reliance on similar combustible engines means they can market their corn and other foodstocks in varied ways for greater profit.



To gain perspective from another leading corn producer in the United States, I looked to Cargill, whose web site bears a strong resemblance to ADM's, and gives even less insight into the underlying situation of biofuel production and creation. They only discuss what services they provide and in what regions, although their Latin American focus is suggestive of more than they openly address:

We are an investor in an entity that operates an ethanol dehydration facility in El Salvador with origination from Brazil. We distribute the anhydrous ethanol produced by this business. We also operate an ethanol terminal in Santos, Brazil, and two sugar cane mills and distilleries in Brazil.

Their European and United States listings talk about what they provide in terms of a product to those regions. With Latin America, they discuss what is produced. Without directly, or perhaps even consciously, acknowledging it, the inequity in the industry between producers of resources (some would say exploited regions) and consumers of an elite product in wealthier countries. One must consider not only the great expense of transporting these substances across oceans and continents, but also what type of destruction was done to the local ecology of the producers and the food resources for the people in those countries. On what land are they growing these crops? What did those crops displace?





(To be continued)