Chart of the Day: The Dragon Eats Corn
Friday, August 19, 2011 at 12:01AM
Thomas P.M. Barnett in Chart of the day, China, US, agriculture

WSJ story.

This is, of course, big news to those of us who own farmland in the Midwest (I do by extension through my wife), because China is already buying up all the soybeans (or so it would seem), and now they're moving in corn in such a big - and I believe, a permanent - way, that a state like Indiana, where damn near everything is corn or soybeans, is feeling pretty good.

Our acreage, BTW, is in NW Ohio - basically the farm my wife grew up on (her share).

With China sucking up this corn and the rest of the world's demand rising as well, it almost strikes me as criminally stupid, in a strategic sense, to continue with the economic farce that is corn ethanol.  I've seen estimates where one-third of our crop (!) is destroyed in this manner - and I do consider it "destruction" is a world where 1B are too fat and 1B are malnutritioned (Soylent Green anyone?).

Mini rant for the day. Up to Lambeau tonight to see Pack v Cards in preseason.  Taking the Mei Mei.

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