Search results for “ethanol”:
We have all seen the signs on the gasoline pumps proudly proclaiming “Contains Ethanol.” The U.S. gas supply includes this biofuel derived from corn due a bill passed in 2007, the Renewable Fuel Standard. It mandates that the nation’s gasoline contains a certain portion of corn-based ethanol, courtesy of America’s heartland. At the time, politicians […]
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The expansion of ethanol and other biofuel production from 2008-2012 has triggered the conversion of an estimated 7 millions of acres of mostly grasslands, and a smaller number of wetland, shrub, and forest acres, to predominantly corn and soybean production. In the course of doing so over just five years, renewable fuels-driven land conversion released […]
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We are getting many questions about President-Elect Biden’s transition priorities. Hygeia has no seat at the pertinent tables, but is in touch with many people that do. What are the most important components of the transition that the Biden-Harris team are focused on now? Easy answer. Combating the pandemic. Bucking up public health science. Getting […]
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While the Farm Bill update hasn’t made it through Congress yet, it’s passage is an eventual certainty, if perhaps broken up into pieces. In an opinion piece in The Hill, economic policy Research Fellow Michael Farren with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University proposes a different and radical option – a full repeal of […]
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The headline in a March 2018 story in the Western Farm Press reads “The alfalfa industry wants more favorable farm policy for its forage crop.” It argues that alfalfa doesn’t get the support and respect it deserves, given that by value, it is the number three field crop grown in the U.S., behind corn and […]
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We cover today a new estimate of the increase in carbon emissions per year from renewable-fuels-driven land conversion over a five year period (2008-2012) in this “In the News” item. This latest study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison will surely not settle the ongoing debate over whether corn ethanol and soy biodiesel increase or decrease […]
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The conclusion of a provocative, March 2017 commentary in JAMA Pediatrics is short and to the point – “…processed food is an experiment that failed.” The author, Dr. Robert Lustig, is a pediatric endocrinologist at U.C. San Francisco. He has carried out multiple studies on the impact of diet on children’s growth, development, and metabolic diseases. […]
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A tipping point for the ages occurred in 2016 with the election of Donald Trump. Such dramatic changes almost always reflect deep and strong undercurrents that have built up over time. Several are unfolding now in the food and agricultural arena. I spent the first week of 2017 in the U.K., meeting with colleagues at […]
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