soil+depletion Archives - Smarter Fuel Future

Results tagged soil+depletion

The UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Environmental Working Group, the Associated Press, Congressmen from both sides and others have revealed corn ethanol produces more GHGs than gasoline, is immensely water-intensive, zaps the land of essential nutrients and demolishes animal habitats.

Agrichemical companies mint fortunes by selling seeds and chemicals to farmers, and grain processors reap billions from buying crops cheap and turning them into pricey stuff like livestock feed, sweetener, cooking oil, and ethanol. But the great bulk of US farms are run by independent operators.

The chemical energy added to soil by intensive ammonia-based fertilization has been directly responsible for increasing Iowa corn yields by a factor of 6 since the 1930s.

As the mandate increases and more U.S. agricultural land is devoted to growing biofuel feedstocks instead of food, we will likely continue to see a rise in food prices worldwide.