Hucked and Shucked: The hidden costs of turning America's corn crop into fuel
This article examines the environmental and economic trade-offs of using a significant portion of the U.S. corn crop for fuel ethanol production. It highlights the tension between land use for energy versus global food security and caloric availability.
Why it matters
It raises critical questions about the sustainability of biofuel policies and their impact on global food supply chains.
The hidden costs of turning America’s corn crop into fuel
“There’s a fine line between patriotism and corn.”
If you have ever traveled through the Midwest—particularly Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, or Ohio—you may have noticed a singular plant: corn. It is hard to miss. Fields of it stretch in every direction. It even makes an effective setting for a horror movie.
But perhaps the most unsettling thing about corn is how little of the crop ends up directly on people’s plates.
In 2024, U.S. farmers harvested 14.9 billion bushels of corn at an average yield of 179.3 bushels per acre. Roughly 5.5 billion bushels—about 37 percent of the crop—were used to produce fuel ethanol.[1,2] The United States has long been the world’s largest ethanol producer, well ahead of Brazil; the 2021 global production profile below illustrates that dominance.[3]
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