Re: Couple of new articles: even more impact on barley prices could

Brew Man wrote:

> The bill passed by Congress specifically states that there be a
> "sixfold increase in the use of ethanol as a motor fuel to 36 billion
> gallons a year by 2022, with 21 billion gallons to be cellulosic
> ethanol from prairie grass and wood chips".  So the bulk of the
> increase in ethanol production as mandated by this bill will not come
> from corn, but instead will come from non-food products.

That is correct -- the BULK of the increase would be from other than 
corn -- but that still doesn't negate that we have seen price increases 
from current corn useage for ethanol and the bill does still call for a 
doubling of what is currently produced from CORN.  Regardless of other 
sources of ethanol, that tells me that MORE corn is going to be planted 
for ethanoil than has been so far, and that leads me to conclude that 
the availability of barley (and maybe hops, too) will probably be even 
tighter in the future because of corn grown for ethanol.

I'm still very concerned about the impact that this is going to have on 
our aquifers and fresh water supplies, and on the erosion and depletion 
of our soil.

Cheers.

Bill Velek