File this under “A sign of things to come.” A coworker here at Orion magazine buys corn to feed his daughter’s sheep, and he reports that his supplier is in a quandary about how to afford the stuff himself these days. Everyone and his brother sees the demand for corn to make ethanol coming, sending corn futures through the roof and driving up prices today.
Farmers in Western Mass. have been buying enormous bins so they can stock up on it now — so many that you can’t even get such a bin if you wanted one. Next availability is mid 2008! So we can look for a lot more “grass-fed” critters for sale in the supermarket … and more hunger here and abroad … and further degradation of our soil base …
