Corny Corn-Loving Iowa
The state of Iowa annually produces 400 pounds of shelled corn for each person in the U.S.
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In 2005, corn farmers in Iowa produced 2.2 billion bushels of the United State’s 11 billion bushels of corn. With a bushel of corn weighing in at 56 pounds, that brings the national total above 2,000 pounds for every person in the country.
Globally, that’s 94 pounds for every human on Earth (including the 16,000 children that will die from hunger today.) |
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The U.S. harvests twice as much corn as any other grain crop. So, where does all that corn go?
People Are Made of Corn
Most American meat comes from corn. As explained so well by Michael Pollan, livestock is one super duper corn-transmogrifying machine. Put in a 56-pound bushel of corn and you get:
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It’s not just meat that’s full of corn, either… |
There’s corn in sandwich buns, in dipping sauces, in chicken nugget binders and breadings.
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French fries soak up half their calories from the corn oil they’re cooked in, then get dipped in a tomato-flavored corn syrup called ketchup.
Then all that corn food is washed down with more corn—soft drinks made with high-fructose corn syrup. |
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But you can’t get something from nothing. What creates all of that corn?
Sunlight, Water, and Petroleum
Like most plants, America’s corn grows by absorbing a lot of sunlight and water.
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Corn also requires loads of fertilizer (made from oil), and pesticides (made from oil), and a lot of farm machinery (which is both made from AND operated with oil).
Unless you’re picking wild berries, every single calorie you eat is backed by at least a calorie of oil—more than likely ten or more calories of oil. Yummy. |
Read more Amasnic Fact Offs here: Amasnic Fact Off Archive.
Read More: corn, oil, energy, environment, fertilizer, pesticides, Michael Pollan
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And Monsanto appreciates all those who buy corn:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/business/05monsanto.html?partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print
If there is a God who agrees that the 14th amendment gave corporations the same rights as individual people, then I have no doubt Monsanto will wallow in eternal hell in a pit neck-high with Monsanto’s own fruit: Agent Orange, PCBs, Aspartame, and bovine growth hormone.
On the other hand, after noting how well Monsanto creates hell on Earth, God may put the company in charge of the afterlife hell, too. :-)