I work for a contractor to the railroads, and spend a lot of time around trains and train yards. There is a steady stream of loaded trains heading for American ports all day, every day. They wait in line to be unloaded into huge ships that can take FIVE TRAINLOADS [sic] of corn and other grains to be shipped around the world.

Somewhere around 85% of the corn grown in the U.S. is feed corn. Most of the feed goes to feedlot cattle and hogs (and cheap dog/cat food). Corn isn't a natural diet for cattle and it causes digestive problems. Some bright person discovered that post-production corn ethanol waste was actually a higher-protein and more easily digestible diet for the cattle. The only part of the corn that is distilled into ethanol is the sugar and the starch, all the other nutrients are left behind as 'waste'.

One bushel of corn weighs about 56 pounds. Out of that single bushel, you can produce almost three gallons of ethanol and about 17 pounds of a high-protein livestock feed (aka 'waste').

Certain parties with vested interests would have people believe that the corn from ethanol is taking food from the mouths of American children, and that is simply not the case. Corn has been America's #1 crop for many years (it's also the #1 nutrient hog, but I am digressing), so much so that they have spent a lot of money trying to find other things to make from it.

Sue