Corn Production Case

Part 1

A.) Factors that might contribute to large fluctuations in corn production are droughts and excess rainfall. If a particular year had a drought then corn production would decrease vastly. On the other hand if a particular year had excess rainfall then crops may have increased quantities due to the extra hydration.

B.) Through time the change in corn production is different than the change in area harvested. The total area harvested has increased significantly from 19060 to the present. One reason for the increase is because over time new harvesting machines have been created which allows farmers to gather corn more efficiently and effectively. Two other reasons for the increase are the advances made in pesticides and nutrients, and the creation of genetically modified food. By using top level pesticides and nutrients the corn farmers can insure that their crops will survive long enough to be harvested. They can also insure a complete harvest by genetically modifying the corn to withstand bacteria and other degenerating organisms.

Part 2

A.) The U.S. exports more corn than it imports. In 2011 corn imports were only 1% of the total corn imports and exports.

B.) Food, feed, and exports have remained relatively constant over the half-century time period. Corn production for ethanol started increasing rapidly after 2000 due to the increase use of ethanol as fuel.

C.) In order to sustain the increase use of ethanol in the globally changing environment, more corn production has to be put towards ethanol. Since the “going-green” revolution began people have been investigating ethanol and its use as a fuel. It burns much cleaner than gas and it is a lot safer for the environment. Scientists have successfully created cars that can run on ethanol. As a result a higher percentage of corn production has been put towards ethanol