Re:U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline
by Synaesthesia on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @03:23AM
(#30344004)
It's kinda hard to kill those subsidies when farmers have been used to them for 50 years, and it's a big political sticking point. The USDA exists to create more export crops. For the US, this might challenge that. That's also why the FDA can never rule that sugar or HFCS is harmful, it's a major American product, and that would be admitting that it's faulty.
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Re:U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline
by jillesvangurp on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @05:56AM
(#30344977)
Reminds me of an old despair.com demotivator: https://despair.com/products/tradition?variant=2457305795
"Just because you've always done things this way does not mean it is not incredibly stupid."
So, yes change is hard. But we need to change and this is kind of an obvious change to make. If we wait for the FDA to conclude that corn syrup is bad for you, we can indeed wait a long time.
So, don't wait for them and adjust their priorities at the federal level. That's what governments are for. You can't expect these agencies to do reasonable things by themselves when they are obviously stuck protecting the very unreasonable status quo. Bloat is the problem both in these agencies and the obese citizens whose interests they are supposed to protect.
Re:U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline
by giantg2 on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @07:37AM
(#30345641)
What's the point of export crops if we're subsidizing them? We're basically exporting tax dollars.
Re:U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline
by goda90 on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @10:45AM
(#30347984)
What we need is shifting subsidies. Change the incentives year over year so farmer's can adapt. Maybe add some budget to incentivize faster changing without punishing the slower movers. Throw resources towards training and retooling.