Don’t fear changes energy crisis brings

…We have witnessed great change in our agriculture this past 75 years as we moved from a rural to an urban economy. We are currently just becoming involved in an even greater change as our agriculture is adjusting to meet the needs of an energy crisis. Excluding Wisconsin, where we did not have the legislative foresight, most Midwest states decided to encourage the expansion of ethanol production. They targeted for ethanol to become a 10 to 20 percent factor in replacing our oil needs and reducing our dependence on imported oil. This reduced the MTDE that had previously been marketed as an additive, but was determined to be a carcinogen. Today five ethanol plants are planned, and bio-diesel fuel production is being considered in our state. Laid to rest are the tales of ethanol production consuming more energy than it produces. Automobile companies, literally all of them, are producing vehicles to utilize 85 percent ethanol.

Will we ever totally reduce our reliance on foreign imports? Probably not. But we are signaling to the world that we will not and cannot afford to be held hostage because of our dependence on imported oil. Imports now equate to 50 percent of our current consumption. Corn, canola oil, switch grass, other cellulose materials, can make up half of our renewable energy needs.

Will there be some tradeoff? Yes. Twenty percent of our corn crop this year will go into ethanol production. This will result in a price rise of approximately 50 cents per bushel of corn, up from the production level of $2 which it has been priced at for several years. Our farmers will have a new source of income, and will have a greater potential of profitability. Because milk and meat production depend so much on the same corn resource, we shall see a rise in the price of these foods in the stores.

These price rises will take place, for Congress has decided to reduce the small subsidies that were designed to keep farmers in business. Subsidies paid so that the consumers can have cheap food. There is no free lunch. As consumers we will be asked to bear these costs that a capitalistic supply and demand market economy demands of its citizens. Eventually, our government will have to cut expenditures, or face the inevitable of raising taxes, or fighting inflation, or both. The energy crisis, and how we resolve it, will be the dominant factor in the next 20 years on how well we fare. It will affect all of us in some form or fashion.

Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter (Wisconsin)