Bloomberg News has an interactive infographic on U.S. corn production. Corn now accounts for 68 percent of US grain-and-oilseed production.
The USDA gives a bit of background on the corn economy.
Scientific American explains why growing all that corn is not such a great idea.
- It’s mostly for feeding animals, not people
- 40% of it goes to fuel for cars
- It uses up lots of natural resources
- It’s monoculture, and vulnerable
- It’s taxpayer supported—at billions of dollars per year
Here’s how it is used.
Time to do some rethinking, no?
If you can find it, watch the film King Corn. It’s a lot of fun and enormously revealing.
