Pubdate: Sat, 11 Nov 2006 Source: Concord Monitor (NH) Copyright: 2006 Monitor Publishing Company Contact: http://www.concordmonitor.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/767 Author: Paul Stillwell FUEL FOR THE FUTURE Just before Election Day, I fueled up my regular car, then the diesel. Two days before, I had ordered my next ton of corn for the corn stove. The price of feed corn had risen since summer by about 10 percent. The unleaded gasoline going into the car contained 10 percent ethanol derived from corn. Why was the price of gasoline so low compared to last year when the cost of a major component had risen? There are now two grades of whole corn: the corn that farmers feed livestock and stove corn. Stove corn isn't food-quality, has a higher btu output, has a little more cob content and is dustier. It costs less than feed corn. As corn is diverted from a food crop to a fuel source, it becomes less available to the livestock operator. This will result in higher prices. Yet the price of gasoline dropped throughout the election season. There is not enough cropland in this country to support a wholesale shift to food-based fuel. The answer must come from cellulosic ethanol instead of food-based ethanol. However the ethanol is derived, it will not power diesel, a preferred source of transport. One plant will provide a source for both: hemp. Hemp requires no pesticides or herbicides. It can grow in almost any North American climate. Unfortunately, it remains illegal because it has an undeserved association with its psychoactive cousin, marijuana. Should hemp agriculture become legal again, it would give the family farmer a profitable rotational crop. Paul Stillwell Concord - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine