If corn is so bad why are we still growing so much of it?

[PandaBear]

This is a genuine question as I do not know the answer, so please don't shoot.

So far I heard a lot of negative things about corn using a lot of nitrogen fertilizer, wasteful as ethanol source, feeding cows are not really energy efficient compare to other sources, and growing it is harmful to the soil condition and all.

Yet I'm sure there's a reason why we still grow so much of it to feed cows and pigs and we don't have a better alternative for much of the farmlands in the US. What is the reason? How is the economics of corn compare to say, soy beans, hay, other grains, etc?

 

[chemman]

Lots of products come from corn - high fructose corn syrup, other corn derived sweeteners for the beer brewing industry, corn for people to consume, etc.

 

[MParr]

Ethanol

 

[totegoat]

I like corn and corn fed beef. I don't need corn in my gas tank.

 

[Pelican]

As an ex farmer I can tell you this: Corn is bad for the soil (too long to explain here) Only reason to grow so much is political (ethanol and the corn belt votes) It helps selling combines which are a big tkt item and the "almost as good as meat" crowd jump on the fact that it's a poor conversion into meat which is true.

 

[wpod]

What is wrong with corn? The Dairy cows around my house eat the whole corn stalk [silage] along with Alfalfa and other whole grains The meat cows are fed the grain part to fatten them up. What makes Soy any better ? Lots of hay and other grains are grown.

 

[BISCUT]

As an ex farmer I can tell you this: Corn is bad for the soil (too long to explain here) Only reason to grow so much is political (ethanol and the corn belt votes) It helps selling combines which are a big tkt item and the "almost as good as meat" crowd jump on the fact that it's a poor conversion into meat which is true.

This!

 

[jhellwig]

Because people have this pesky need to eat food to survive. If we only ate vegetables and meat that was grass fed we would be starving. Yes there are inefficiencies, damage to the ground and need for subsidies but it is still the best way to feed the masses. Corn isn’t the only crop out there that does this either.

If you want to go back to living off the land and no antibiotics or gmo there is going to have to be a lot less people.

And ethanol isn’t the only reason if anyone would care to make an informed opinion on it.

 

[wpod]

Farmers grow what sells. Farming is a business , that is how they make money and it takes lots of labor to grow crops.

 

[PandaBear]

I am still not sure. I don't believe ethanol or HFCS is the reason. I don't think lobbying is the reason either. You can have farmers growing other more profitable crops and the fundamental economics will still be there. Is corn still more efficient at feeding animals than say soy or alfalfa? or is it growing faster? or the soil is better suited for corn than anything else?

I still think politics can be part of it but IMO there should be more reason than "it is part of what being a US farmer is about". It must be because of profit and what works well, and the money and politics follow.

 

[MrHorspwer]

I know posting YouTube videos isn't what BITOG is for, but about 12 years ago, a documentary came out called King Corn. It is a fantastic piece and well worth the 90 minutes to watch. It hits on all the OPs points and then some.

It's available for free on YouTube.

 

[y_p_w]

I am still not sure. I don't believe ethanol or HFCS is the reason. I don't think lobbying is the reason either. You can have farmers growing other more profitable crops and the fundamental economics will still be there. Is corn still more efficient at feeding animals than say soy or alfalfa? or is it growing faster? or the soil is better suited for corn than anything else?

I still think politics can be part of it but IMO there should be more reason than "it is part of what being a US farmer is about". It must be because of profit and what works well, and the money and politics follow.

Here's an interesting article on why corn. The author acknowledges that it's both very versatile and very resource intensive. But yeah - the big thing is that it makes money for farmers.

It’s Time to Rethink America’s Corn System

Only a tiny fraction of corn grown in the U.S. directly feeds the nation’s people, and much of that is from high-fructose corn syrup

www.scientificamerican.com

Of course the issue with American corn farming is that it goes about equally to ethanol and animal feel production. It wouldn't be needed as much if there less of an appetite for meat and poultry.

I think a lot of it would also be that "We've always done it this way." Inertia is a thing. Even when coal is now more expensive as an energy source than natural gas, there's still some resistance to doing things differently and spending on the infrastructure.

 

[SZR48207]

I am still not sure. I don't believe ethanol or HFCS is the reason. I don't think lobbying is the reason either. You can have farmers growing other more profitable crops and the fundamental economics will still be there. Is corn still more efficient at feeding animals than say soy or alfalfa? or is it growing faster? or the soil is better suited for corn than anything else?

I still think politics can be part of it but IMO there should be more reason than "it is part of what being a US farmer is about". It must be because of profit and what works well, and the money and politics follow.

There is a famous twitter read about how invasive corn is in our lives. Here's the link:

 

[pbm]

High Fructose Corn Syrup has been banned by many countries....it's unhealthy garbage....but our 'watchdog' agencies apparently aren't watching out for us....

 

[y_p_w]

High Fructose Corn Syrup has been banned by many countries....it's unhealthy garbage....but our 'watchdog' agencies apparently aren't watching out for us....

No worse than cane or beet sugar. We should probably reduce sugar in our diets, but there's nothing worse about HFCS. There's a ton of fear mongering about HFCS.

Is High-Fructose Corn Syrup Really Worse Than Regular Sugar?

High-fructose corn syrup has been blamed for everything from obesity and dementia to heart attacks and strokes. But the truth is far more complicated. Our experts provide the fructose facts.

www.berkeleywellness.com

The difference in how the body handles the two sugars has led to the belief that HFCS is much worse for you than regular sugar. However, several studies have clearly shown that HFCS and sucrose have indistinguishable metabolic effects and the same health consequences. That is, neither type of sugar is good for you.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Corn Pops !!!

 

[AutoMechanic]

They grow it because I eat a lot of it both on the cob and from a can. LOL

 

[y_p_w]

They grow it because I eat a lot of it both on the cob and from a can. LOL

Sweet corn is such a small part of corn farming in the US. I don't think the question is really about whether or not there will still be sweet corn. Most corn grown is dent corn, which would be really difficult to eat straight up with our heavy processing.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Sweet corn is such a small part of corn farming in the US. I don't think the question is really about whether or not there will still be sweet corn. Most corn grown is dent corn, which would be really difficult to eat straight up with our heavy processing.

I didn’t know that I thought corn on the cob was brought straight from farm to table lol

 

[y_p_w]

I didn’t know that I thought corn on the cob was brought straight from farm to table lol

Well it is more or less farm to table. But sweet corn is a tiny proportion of US corn production. I called it dent corn, but it's also know as field corn. Certainly around where I live, there's a lot of sweet corn production. However, the bigger growing regions plant dent corn.

Sweet Corn vs Field Corn | Corn Facts | Nebraska Corn Board

Nebraska is the nation's third largest corn producer. Learn more about the types of corn our farmers grow and how it's used.

nebraskacorn.gov

Field corn has dozens of uses, but it is most commonly fed to animals or used to make renewable fuels like ethanol to power our cars and trucks. But only part of the kernel is used for ethanol (the starch), the rest of the kernel, including the protein and fat, are then used to make another popular animal feed known as distillers grains.

People don’t eat field corn directly from the field because it’s hard and certainly not sweet. Instead, field corn must go through a mill and be converted to food products and ingredients like corn syrup, corn flakes, yellow corn chips, corn starch or corn flour.

Also - that should have been "without" earlier. My typo turned into some strange autocorrect.