These rows of large round bales are composed of corn stalks. In years past this material might have been used as bedding for cattle or horses, if it was used at all. Mostly corn stalks were plowed back into the soil to add to soil health. Now corn stalks are being chopped and mixed with distillers grain from ethanol distillers so this by product might be fed to cattle. Forty percent of all SD corn grown is fermented into ethanol. After this grain has been ground into flour, mixed with water, and allowed to ferment into alcohol and carbon dioxide, it is distilled into alcohol. The left over dried grain flour and yeast can not be fed directly to animals as it is too rich for them to digest. Fiber needs to be added, and corn stalks have an abundance of fiber. Feed lots use many tons of distillers grain which has created a market for baled corn stalks. Corn farmers now have another crop to sell that in the past was of no economic value. But we are left with some troubling questions. What is the consequence for soil to have this material removed every fall? Is this feed mixture healthy for pigs and cattle? Is it healthy for us to be eating animals fattened on his feed? What are the real hidden costs to burning billions of gallons of ethanol in our cars and trucks?
Oh my goodness. I had no idea. You've raised some interesting, indeed, vital questions. The question is is anyone else asking them?
ReplyDeleteTechnology is wonderful but has a massive inherent problem. Too often if a technology has a possible use, the question as to whether it should be used goes unasked, which as you suggest can lead to a multitude of new problems for which we are unprepared.
I have not heard that anyone is asking these questions, let alone trying to answer them. I suspect that switching to ethanol fuels may well have unforeseen consequences. Ethanol does burn cleaner than gasoline, but we are experimenting with a number of alternatives fuels. For more than 70 years tractors have successfully run on LP gas, so why don't we have cars and trucks that burn LP? It too burns cleaner than gasoline.
DeleteTractors over here still run on red deisel. Thanks for following up the battle on my Jersey blog.
ReplyDeleteYou ask some great questions.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope others are asking them as well.
Greetings from Minneapolis,
Pearl
Wonderful golden captures .... I love those big rolls of hay set against the wide open blue sky.
ReplyDeleteAnd all of this in service of ethanol, a mandated fuel that is the result of a very strong agricultural lobby.
ReplyDeleteHi Jack, (I'm not saying this out loud on any airplanes) it is unclear whether baling corn stalks works out for the farmer. There is lost fertilizer to the field which must be replaced. Each round bale weights about 1,200 lbs, and at $60 a ton, is worth around $40 dollars. Transport expenses must also figure in which vary depending on distance to ethanol plant. Farmers need sharp pencils to see if this practice makes or loses money. Ethanol does consume 40% of S.D.'s corn crop, so farm lobbies are strongly in favor of mandated ethanol.
DeleteThis is what happens when responsibility is fragmented - no one takes a wholistic approach! Intriguing questions - but my guess is they'll remain unanswered by anyone with the capacity to change anything!
ReplyDeleteHello Red, I think you are correct. Each individual corn farmer needs to carefully do a cost-benefit calculation to see if baling corn stalks is right for them. As consumers we should be asking about what goes into our food chain. Historically the answers here are not good. In terms of fuel production we may be in a era of searching for a fuel with the least environmental impact. Obviously the answers are not in yet. Perhaps the future holds many fuels depending on transport need.
ReplyDeleteThe farmers baling the corn stalks are the ones feeding them and the putting the manure right back out in the fields they removed the cornstalks from.
ReplyDelete