• plyth@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    So we could gain 29,750,000 acres of land to grow more food or whatever and stop growing corn to turn into ethanol just to burn it in our cars.

    What if there is another potato famine, (added: another potato destroying mold)? That corn creates food security because it can always be used as food while the ethanol is replaced with petrol.

    • 🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      2 days ago

      Corn grown for ethanol is not edible by humans. Also, do you really think growing only 29,750,000 acres of corn instead of 30,000,000 acres is a meaningful difference? Because it’s not.

      • plyth@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 days ago

        You suggest to grown none of those 30 million that are used for ethanol. That would be 30 million acres less out of 90 million that are used for corn. That’s a major chamge.

        • 🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 days ago

          Corn grown for ethanol would not help in a food shortage, so for the idea of a food shortage, it is… not helpful.

          We have plenty of land not being used right now that could be used to grow food.

          But we don’t have a shortage of food. We have food being wasted and thrown away. We have plenty of excess food. This is like being worried about your driveway taking up valuable lawn space. It’s… not.

          • plyth@feddit.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            would not help in a food shortage

            Others have pointed out that it can be eaten as staple food.

            We have plenty of land not being used right now

            Land doesn’t help if there is no food.

            But we don’t have a shortage of food.

            A reserve is for out of ordinary situations.

            • 🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              2 days ago

              You can also scour the ground for pennies just in case you run out of money, too. It’ll technically bring in more money than you had before.

              You could also keep a stash of aluminum cans to turn in for money as well in case you run out of money.

              But the amounts of help these things would do is so incredibly minimal that there are much better uses of your time.

              Yes. Technically. Growing less than one percent of the land we grow for ethanol corn would mean that extra less than one percent of corn we really don’t want to eat JUST IN CASE we needed that last tiny bit.

              We could also easily open far more than that in farmland and grow other crops that are more edible first.

              But yes, technically, we could grow food we neither want nor need.

              Are you happy now?

              • plyth@feddit.org
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                2 days ago

                I am sorry but I am not happy.

                Yes. Technically. Growing less than one percent of the land we grow for ethanol

                It was 30%.It could be used otherwise if we used elecrric cars but that wouldn’t create food security.

                JUST IN CASE we needed

                Well, not starving to death is a reasonable cause to do something.

                We could also easily open far more than that in farmland and grow other crops

                Then there is other surplus food that has to be thrown away, or also be turned into ethanol.

                technically, we could grow food we neither want nor need.

                For food it’s worth having a surplus. The bad part is that food is turned into ethanol while people starve to death.

                • 🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  1 day ago

                  We do not fucking need that land for food. There is no shortage of food. Nobody is fucking starving due to a lack of food. There is a lack of distribution, yes. But not a fucking lack of food.

                  Furthermore, converting 250k acres of that corn that we are NOT FUCKING EATING BECAUSE IT IS BEING USED FOR ETHANOL into solar that powers cars instead would ALLOW US TO GAIN ALMOST 30,000,000 ACRES OF LAND TO GROW FOOD.

                  Food that we do not fucking need in the first place.

                  Jesus fucking christ.

                  Have a nice day. I’m done. Goodbye.

    • zbyte64@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 days ago

      You know the Irish wouldn’t have starved so bad if the Brits didn’t insist they export all food that wasn’t potatoes. Let’s not use bad policies as an example for why we can’t have good policies.

      • plyth@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 days ago

        I meant to say that the problem could be another potato destroing mold. The famine could be avoided by switching to ethanol corn.

        Not growing that corn would lead to the same result as exporting it.