• Corn Field

    Corn Politics: Looking into Ethanol and Development

    For years, corn has been an essential ingredient in Americans’ diets, sneaking into places we wouldn’t expect to find it, comprising the carbon compound for almost all of the meat, sweeteners, and processed food we eat. Heavily subsidized by the American government, corn is the only thing that makes sense for many American farmers to grow, although it’s almost never lucrative.

    Concerns about gas prices and global warming, however, have given corn a whole new purpose—saving the planet. Demand for ethanol, a petroleum-substitute made out of corn, has been skyrocketing. Corn is also the ingredient from which all of Carleton’s new compostable cups, plates, cutlery and plastics are made. As these practices become trendier, for the first time in decades, corn farmers are actually making money

    So corn steps in and saves the day; we become independent of oil, stop global warming, and Schumann’s Happy Farmer becomes an American reality. Right? Well, not quite that easily. As the prices of corn and soybeans, both influenced by the demand for ethanol, rise, food becomes harder to afford—and these two crops together comprise a surprising percentage of our diet.

    A New York Times article on Saturday morning reveals that the United States, the world’s largest food donor, purchased less than half the food aid this year it did in 2000, partly because of how ethanol has impacted the world food market. Rising food prices also makes it harder for the poor to purchase food for themselves.

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