The Effect of Ethanol

The effect of ethanol is going to be felt across the board and it might not leave any stone unturned. It is already affecting the price of grain, the amount of land to be used for corn growing, the number of crops that will be dropped in order to grow corn will rise, and currently cotton and soybeans are suffering this particular fate. It is not only that it is going to affect chicken and cattle feed making any meet expensive. Syrup and candy makers also are going to feel the pinch. But for the farming community it is a good news that is going to use this year up to 90.5 million acres, a 15 percent rise. That however is not going to bring the price of corn down since there is already demand for corn abroad in countries such as India, China, and even Europe does not have enough land to meet the requirement of using clean burning fuel that is gas mixed with ethanol.

Recently Fiedel Castro was worried about the effect, which he believes will devastate the poor that are living in third world countries. However, since most of the poor of these regions are farmers, close to 85 percent of the population in third world countries live off farming, they might be joining the bonanza and might save something to feed themselves before selling whatever they harvest. And eventually corn might become gold as people can eat other staples that are not suitable for ethanol, but it seems that any kind of grain can be used to make ethanol, ushering a trend where people would have to change their diet. Vegetables could become substitutes but they might not be spared when the demand for anything that will be converted into fuel becomes dominant. It is interesting to watch what is going to unfold in the near future, but for now those who are farming could make a killing and eventually there will be many entrants affecting the price of land too, and the domino effect will set in.