An article in the NYT today on biofuels received overwhelming negative feedback from readers. There are problems with agricultural monoculture (corn, sugar beets, sugar cane).
- Corn is HIGHLY SUSCEPTIBLE to getting wiped out by a massive storm or a massive drought. One insect infestation or one disease can and will obliterate an entire crop making it extinct. This has happened with other crops. It took many years to rebuild from other agricultural stock.Monoculture Article
- Reserves for corn and agricultural commodities are slim making it supply and price highly volatile.
- Corn ethanol also compete with corn as a foundational food crop.
- It's really not the best, stable alternative fuel source to oil. Actually, it might be one of the least reliable considering how one major catastrophic event will leave people not only without fuel. It will also starve people.
- Relying on any monoculture, especially corn, for managing and stabilizing fuel prices is based on incomplete analysis.
- Also, corn production is highly dependent on oil due to fertilzers.About 1.5% of the world's energy goes to making nitrogen. Potash and phosphorus, the other two non-renewable commodities besides oil for making fertilizer, have spiked in prices along with oil. Haber Bosch Process Industrial Fertilizer Article
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