The environmental costs of corn: should the US change how it grows its dominant crop? | Amid concerns over greenhouse gas emissions, the Trump administration has abolished climate-friendly farming incentives

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/03/environment-corn-farming-trump-administration

by silence7

5 comments

  1. Dustbowl 2.0, incoming. Trump’s faults will be punished by natural means, unfortunately the US citizens will be left to suffer for reelecting him.

  2. **Summary:**

    The title kind of buries the lead. 95% of this corn shouldn’t be grown at all. The largest majority of it goes to making ethanol which produces almost 1/100th the amount of energy per acre as solar would on the same land. Corn currently uses something like 100 MILLION acres and requires unconscionable amounts of synthetic fertilizers which contaminate nearby wells and water sources. The corn lobby is now trying to further institutionalize its industry (through subsidies & special treatment in regulations) to move into aviation fuel which could mean an additional 114 MILLION acres dedicated to this grotesquely wasteful and polluting industry.

    **Quotes from the article:**

    *One recent study found that solar panels can generate as much energy as corn ethanol on roughly 3% of the land.*

    *In 2022, Tyler Frye and his wife moved into a new home in the rural village of Casco, Wisconsin, about 20 miles (32km) east of Green Bay. Testing found their well water had nitrate levels more than twice the EPA’s safe limit. “We were pretty shocked,” Frye said.*

    *When he watches manure or fertilizer being spread on nearby fields, he said, one question nags him: “Where does that go?”*

    *Despite mounting research about corn’s climate costs, industry groups are pushing for legislation to pave the way for ethanol-based jet fuel.*

    *Researchers warn that producing enough ethanol-based aviation fuel could prompt another 114m acres* [*to be converted to corn*](https://www.wri.org/insights/us-sustainable-aviation-fuel-emissions-impacts)*, or 20% more corn acres than the US plants for all purposes.*

    *“The result,” said University of Iowa professor and natural resources economist Silvia Secchi, “would be essentially to enshrine this dysfunctional system that we created.”*

  4. actual climate scientists agree that rice is FAR MORE destructive to our planet’s ecology than corn. Rice has higher water requirements and methane emissions.

    see link below.

    [Corn Vs Rice: A Comparison You Won’T Want To Miss – DeliFo](https://delifo.net/corn-vs-rice/#google_vignette)

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