The Industrial Revolution really messed us up.

In recent years I have seen pasture turned into more acres to grow corn, this was done because it made sense for the land owner to do, more profit in corn then grass fed beef. Make changes in alcohol fuel production, does all that land go back to grass? I would guess not, (not ALL anyways) however, if those changes take away the profit to the individual land owner, he will be forced to find a use that will pay the bills, or he loses (even to the point he loses the land if he can’t pay the taxes). Stop alcohol production but understand it simply does NOT automatically mean cheaper food prices, or even more food (human food) being produced.

Then there is the argument which is more important food, or energy (fuel). Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this question. However, the answer is not always simple. No matter how much food for human consumption is produced, it will be of little use for anyone if it does not get off the farm, and into the hands of the person who is in need. We no longer live in a world where people just travel to the local farmer’s food stand along a road. We no longer have a flour mill in every county. Now raw commodities like grain travel large distances to be made into food products, then travel again to the customers. Every year this gets worse, and more and more fuel is used to get the food to where it needs to be. A person just can not expect that crude oil can be the only source of fuel, or that it will just always come from “other” countries. America has to be able to produce at least some of it’s own fuel. If we can not pump our own crude, we damn well better keep a back-up fuel in production.

Did not, and can not cover all points. My main argument is that if you stop alcohol production, you can not just assume lower food prices. Just too many factors that come into play.

Doug

If the feed corn is not going to feed a dairy cow, but rather a laying hen for egg production, then I believe that I read that the feed production gain was cut. Simply put a cow and chicken are very different

It also has to be considered that if fuel alcohol was removed from production, it can be assumed that the grain growers may well rethink what crop they grow in the future. In my lifetime I has witnessed huge changes in growing habits of farmers (grain production). This article seems to suggest that for the sake of feeding more people, and keeping food costs down, things like alcohol fuel should be stopped. The problem with that goal, is that to keep the grain production at a high level, there MUST be profit. In the end, a farmer might want to feed more people per acre, but would be unable to do so if there isn’t enough profit to pay for his input costs, and cover the risk he must take every year.

First alcohol use as a fuel is not going to effect the human food supply. It would take a VERY long to post to cover all the reasons why, but to cover the basics: the greatest percentage of corn grown in the U.S.A. Grain belt is not for human consumption. It is used only for animal feed. Once this corn is used to make alcohol, it changes but is still destined to be used as animal feed. Can a bushel of feed corn be used as BOTH fuel, and feed? Yes, but how efficient comes into play. It can be said that some feed value is lost, but in some cases feed value is gained. As one example, if the corn was to be fed to a dairy cow, using that same corn to be first used to make alcohol fuel, then moved as wet distiller grain to the same dairy cow, some studies have shown there to be a net gain in feed value (Iowa State U. study, you can google this).

More later…..

You find like minded people, people who are really prepping and get togather and form a survival group, it’s amazing the amount of information available from a group of people.

We have just about anything you can think of between us including a place we can all bug out to to survive if necessary that is close to all of us. We are rural. We have large ponds right next to us, silos full of grain.
We educate each other, share intel, books and meet once a week to plan and learn. We meet and train, we are very selective about who is in our group, it’s not large, but big enough, have become friends and have the same beliefs. We have a doctor, herbelist, 2 gunsmiths, and people with many skills, former special ops military and people who are expert at canning, food growing, cooking with what we have. We have tried to cover everything we can. Money is always a problem, so we don’t take expensive vacations, buy expensive toys etc, our money is going into preps, we make things, buy old hand operated equipment, have solar and windmills for power, lots of good 6v golf cart batteries and we know how to rebuild them, communicaions.
Get with the right people. We hope we don’t have to fight, but will in a heart beat. Trying to be as low key and out of the way like we are is not a bad thing.

If all goes south, we have a far better chance of surviving than an individual family or a few people. If necessery, we will die with our boots on, not on our knees.

Books on herbal medicines, food preservation, blacksmithing, basic woodworking, beekeeping, animal raising, self and home defense, making your own cleaning/laundry supplies, dyeing cloth, sewing, candlemaking, etc. Most of these can be bought inexpensively. They help one analyze one’s skills and identify one’s prepping priorities. Also they may provide a souce of barter in the day ever copmes in that one can exchange one’s knowledge/skills, and/or open up a barter-based lending library. It may also provide the knowledge needed to folk looking for new vocations in a more local economy. This can make an area safer by giving folk a way to earn a living, other than stealing,and provide broaden a community’s ability to sustain itself.

I would be leery of getting anything stored on digital media as one has to have electricty to access the information. All you need with a book is some daylight or a candle.

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/freezedriedvegetables.aspx