Hello All,
I realize BEE-L is mainly about beekeeping but in the Midwest the rush for
gold in ethanol production effects beekeepers. Hobby to commercial. We are
losing bee forage areas daily and most of us are not placing hives next to
fields of corn.

Feed the world is what those chasing the gold would like for you to believe.

At first it was 10 % with a choice of choosing straight gasoline or gas with
10% ethanol.

Auto mechanics saying 15% will hurt car engines is the only reason 15% in
fuel is not happening.

Now the move is to E85 ( 85% ethanol and the rest gasoline).

Corn prices drive up food prices. Corn is being diverted from feeding the
world into ethanol to fuel SUV's.

Atrazine is applied to most corn crops in the U.S. (despite being banned in
many countries). A prediction on line says we would lose 5% or less of a
corn crop if atrazine was not used. A 50 year habit with farmers is hard to
break.

According to a USA Today report 75% of streams and 40% of ground water
samples contain atrazine.

Please don't take my word for the above and do your own research.

I have read it takes maybe 20 years for atrazine to leach into ground water.
In my opinion we will see the atrazine used today (fueled by demand for corn
for ethanol) when corn is being treated as gold later on.

If you are one of those people which buy into its all about feeding the 
world instead of making money then I have some ocean front property for sale 
in Missouri.

Oil companies own big interests in ethanol .

We can do ethanol without the atrazine contamination but will reduce 
profits.

bob

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