Our reputation abroad is being ruined

Yep and this time we really are at fault.

One of the great sources of pride for our country has been that our farmers fed the world. Almost all the significant advances in agriculture and mass production of food for the past two centuries were either made here or perfected here. The McCormack reaper, the combine harvester, advanced farm management techniques, advanced hybrids, genetic modified food all have made it possible for the world to support untold numbers of people and in general defy the doom predicted by Malthus.

If any one American earned this country goodwill abroad it was the American Farmer. The applicable word being was. Thanks to the greens in their infinite wisdom this work of centuries is now being undone

From the Business Standard:

US responsible for global food crisis.

Data collected by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nation show that the consumption of cereals (wheat, rice, maize, corn and so on) is growing far more rapidly in the US than in India or China. According to a global food market report put out by the FAO, the consumption of cereals by India is projected to have grown 2.17 per cent from 193.1 million tonnes in 2006-07 to 197.3 million tonnes in 2007-08, while that in China has risen 1.8 per cent from 382.2 million tonnes to 389.1 million tonnes.

Now just what is driving increased demand in the U.S. ? Is everybody having an extra bun with their cheeseburger ? Nope it seems that extra 30 million tons of grain went to make biofuel.

With crude oil prices rising to over $115 a barrel, the US is learnt to have utilised 30 million tonnes of corn to make bio-fuel. The FAO data show that the usage of corn in the US to make bio-fuel increased two-and-a-half times between 2000 and 2006

That’s right we are burning grain so we can starve the world. And, Yes this time we are responsible. We are responsible because we let our politicians pander to a fringe of nutcases. Nutcases whose only qualification to argue for a policy is that they have too much time on their hands and a great resentment of our society.

Like most schemes of the greens biofuels has been a truly ill wind. It has done nothing to cut down on our use of conventional fuels, we have actually increased our environmental damage (Biofuels take over a century to become carbon neutral because of the land clearing to create them. In addition, there is the run off from fertilizers and decrease in species diversity from monoculture.). And we are starving out the world.

Good job GREENS good job.

Crossposted at REDSTATE