As happens every presidential election, once the Iowa primary is over, even cursory discussion of agricultural and farm issues grinds to a halt. It's the same old story: pander to the Hawkeye State farmers by promising ever higher subsidies and use mandates for corn-based ethanol, and then escape and shut up, before the rest of the voters figure out what a bad deal for them ethanol from corn really is.
It takes more energy and water to produce the corn and make it into ethanol, than ethanol returns in energy. 85% ethanol is cheaper at the pump ONLY because it carries a 50-cent-a-gallon federal subsidy, and because it gets less miles per gallon than gasoline, so has to be cheaper to be competitive.
Meanwhile, just so the politicians can buy a few votes in Iowa, food prices soar because of the high cost of corn, artificially inflated by the federally-subsidized ethanol business. Livestock producers are cutting back herds, and losing money, because corn is too expensive to profitably feed to cattle, hogs and poultry.
Obama has said one thing only that even vaguely relates to agriculture: urged President Bush not to bring the Korea trade pact to the U.S. Senate--where he doesn't show up and vote anyway--because it'll allegedly cost some union jobs. What he doesn't say is that the Korea trade pact is an excellent, badly-needed shot in the arm for agriculture, which needs it to make up for what the pols gave away in ethanol subsidies for Iowa farm votes.
As predicted here with absolute certainty a few months ago, the presidential campaigns are once again dead silent on farm issues. Congress passed a horribly bloated, socialistic farm bill, with nary a word from the presidential candidates.
Yep, politics as usual.
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