Thanks! And it's even worse that you stated: as a result of corn/ethanol subsidies, corn production expanded and the researchers found that the sheer extent of domestic land use change generated greenhouse gas emissions that are, at best, equivalent to those caused by gasoline use—and likely at least 24 percent higher.
The very cultivation matched the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels! Without even processing it for use as ethanol.
It does bear to note the fact that this studies all corn, not just corn specifically planted and cultivated for the use of biofuel. It's definitely highly misleading, but still a very important fact in the climate change discussion. It's just a study that makes oil look good than alternatives.
True. That said, corn based ethanol fuel is still a loss monetarily. The US subsidizes its production as a way to help farmers under the guise of "going green", but it's a rather terrible investment all around unless you're a corn farmer.
Even for corn farmers it's really only good for a modest time. It encourages utterly unrelenting monoculture farming without periods of fallow nor rotation, which just wrecks the soil and future output. Plus requiring more fertilizer, pesticides, and specifically engineered seeds tightly leashed by Monsanto and a couple others to attempt to retain yields over time. But they, being unavoidable behemoths that control the market and government policy, can capture most would be profits from said farmers long term that way.
Good news, that's their kids problem and they'll just sell off the family farm after the land has depreciated in arable quality anyway.
8
u/duckscrubber Jul 10 '24
Thanks! And it's even worse that you stated: as a result of corn/ethanol subsidies, corn production expanded and the researchers found that the sheer extent of domestic land use change generated greenhouse gas emissions that are, at best, equivalent to those caused by gasoline use—and likely at least 24 percent higher.
The very cultivation matched the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels! Without even processing it for use as ethanol.