What if ethanol ceases to be pushed by the federal government and is replaced by natural gas or electricity? Can these farms be repositioned to produce other crops?
Ethanol is only one source of alternative energy that will be needed to meet the expanding global demands for energy. Corn based ethanol is not the panacea for our energy needs, but it also has more positive attributes than what the press has focused on lately. For example, ethanol produces a byproduct, brewers grain, which is a high protein and germ remnant that is exceptional animal feed but rarely included in the economics of ethanol. The efficiency of corn based ethanol is improving exponentially as revealed in a recent study published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology. In time, technology will permit the addition of cellulosic biofuels made from switchgrass, cornstalks or other fibrous feed-stocks, but farmland and farmers will still be needed to plant, maintain and harvest these alternative crops.
