Without opining on the subsidies themselves, I have a couple of questions:

The other 8 percent — commercial farmers who derive most of their income from farming and subsidies

Is this income or profit?  Farmers have huge expenses which often wipe out the majority of their income.  It’s not uncommon for a farmer to have $200k in income but $150k in expenses.  Often depreciation removes enough to yield a net loss.

Ninety-two percent of farm-dwellers derive either all or most of their income from sources other than farming or subsidies. Average household incomes for this group have increased steadily since 2006. These farmers are expected to earn between $63,500 and $83,500 this year.

This information is useless: What’s with the interchangeability of “farm-dwellers” and “farmers”??  Many families who reside on farms but have no agrarian activities whatsoever still fit in this category.  Others farm but have a second job or working spouse to supplement their income.

The only useful information in the article is that 92% of “farm dwellers” have determined that farming is not lucrative enough to be their primary source of household income.

One of those rich corporate farmers had his letter published in the Fargo Forum today.

Mark Harless, Moorhead, Letter: Don’t lose sight of ethanol’s benefits

Published Friday, May 02, 2008
Corn-based ethanol has been taking a beating in the news lately. The criticism is unjust. The latest criticism is that we are converting a food product to fuel, and that this is increasing the cost of food.

The price of corn in fact has gone from near $3 a bushel to $6 a bushel, but then other commodities have also had huge price increases. Oil has gone from $10 per barrel to $120. Gold has gone from $250 per ounce to $1,000. In fact, commodities of all sorts, including concrete, steel and copper, have all increased in price. Surely ethanol can’t be blamed for them, too. Maybe there are other factors at work that are causing all commodities to increase in price.

Factors such as energy costs, a cheap dollar, poor stock market returns, speculation, hedge funds, expanding worldwide economies (China, India), increased worldwide demand, weather, wars and terrorism.

Is it really plausible that a new market for corn (ethanol) that will use approximately 20 percent of our nation’s corn crop while returning half of it back in DDGs (a feed product) is the root cause of hunger, food riots and food inflation? I don’t think so.

I hope that as a nation we don’t lose sight of the reason that we overwhelmingly supported and passed the Renewable Fuels Standard, which mandates 9 billion gallons of ethanol use by the end of 2008. This was done to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and increase the production of domestically produced renewable fuels.

Today that fuel is corn-based ethanol. Tomorrow it may be cellulosic ethanol, methanol, biobutanol, syngas from coal, or all of the above.

The ethanol industry has responded by building 153 ethanol refineries, with 59 more under construction, that are expected to produce 11 billion gallons by the end of the year; this at a time when not a single oil refinery has been built in more than 30 years.

The ethanol industry is a huge success and should be celebrated for meeting the challenge of meeting the RFS, not vilified for world economic factors beyond its influence.

One of those rich corporate farmers had his letter published in the Fargo Forum today.

Mark Harless, Moorhead, Letter: Don’t lose sight of ethanol’s benefits

Published Friday, May 02, 2008
Corn-based ethanol has been taking a beating in the news lately. The criticism is unjust. The latest criticism is that we are converting a food product to fuel, and that this is increasing the cost of food.

The price of corn in fact has gone from near $3 a bushel to $6 a bushel, but then other commodities have also had huge price increases. Oil has gone from $10 per barrel to $120. Gold has gone from $250 per ounce to $1,000. In fact, commodities of all sorts, including concrete, steel and copper, have all increased in price. Surely ethanol can’t be blamed for them, too. Maybe there are other factors at work that are causing all commodities to increase in price.

Factors such as energy costs, a cheap dollar, poor stock market returns, speculation, hedge funds, expanding worldwide economies (China, India), increased worldwide demand, weather, wars and terrorism.

Is it really plausible that a new market for corn (ethanol) that will use approximately 20 percent of our nation’s corn crop while returning half of it back in DDGs (a feed product) is the root cause of hunger, food riots and food inflation? I don’t think so.

I hope that as a nation we don’t lose sight of the reason that we overwhelmingly supported and passed the Renewable Fuels Standard, which mandates 9 billion gallons of ethanol use by the end of 2008. This was done to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and increase the production of domestically produced renewable fuels.

Today that fuel is corn-based ethanol. Tomorrow it may be cellulosic ethanol, methanol, biobutanol, syngas from coal, or all of the above.

The ethanol industry has responded by building 153 ethanol refineries, with 59 more under construction, that are expected to produce 11 billion gallons by the end of the year; this at a time when not a single oil refinery has been built in more than 30 years.

The ethanol industry is a huge success and should be celebrated for meeting the challenge of meeting the RFS, not vilified for world economic factors beyond its influence.

Every other country subsidizes their farmers. Why not us? That’s the ol’ free market economy!

Every other country subsidizes their farmers. Why not us? That’s the ol’ free market economy!

How little you know!  Subsidies rig the market in favor of those who get the subsidy.

Let’s look closer at that average farm household income statistic. Ninety-two percent of farm-dwellers derive either all or most of their income from sources other than farming or subsidies. Average household incomes for this group have increased steadily since 2006. These farmers are expected to earn between $63,500 and $83,500 this year.

That is one hell of a deal to get 83,500.00 as year form the federal government and most of the time the left claims it isn’t enough.

when not a single oil refinery has been built in more than 30 years

Hmmm, we know that it’s the environazis that have held up construction of oil refineries.  Interesting that the same environs seem to have given a blank check to the ethanol industry.  Wonder why…