What's with all the corn?

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Darth Despot

Darth Despot

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Had to drive 2/3 of the way across the country last week.

We grow an ungodly amount of corn in this country, Driving across a number of the big flat states and there was nothing but corn for a thousand miles as far as the eyes could see.

It was also surprisingly unsettling to be in places with no contour to the landscape.
 
Darth Despot said:
Had to drive 2/3 of the way across the country last week.

We grow an ungodly amount of corn in this country, Driving across a number of the big flat states and there was nothing but corn for a thousand miles as far as the eyes could see.

It was also surprisingly unsettling to be in places with no contour to the landscape.
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Two reasons.

-Need moar sugar.
-animal feed

Edit: I see more soybeans than corn for what that's worth.
 
I have driven across the country a few times. Farm country is something. In a fiction book I read 40 or 50 years ago it was characterized as miles and miles of nothing but miles. Seems apt.
 
There’s a lot of corn?

Huh.

Go figure.


Shoulda played Where’s Jaric. It’s like Where’s Waldo, except instead of a mass of people he’s hidden amongst the stalks.

Creepy I know.

But fun for the kids.
 
Wrong, you dig your pits in the corn field and then chase the little children into it.
 
subroc said:
I have driven across the country a few times. Farm country is something. In a fiction book I read 40 or 50 years ago it was characterized as miles and miles of nothing but miles. Seems apt.
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As a Midwesterner myself, it does appear that way when you're on the highways but people really do live there and they're some of the nicest people you're going to meet. I've visited a lot of states but none that I would rather live in.
 
Dwight Schrute said:
There’s a lot of corn?

Huh.

Go figure.


Shoulda played Where’s Jaric. It’s like Where’s Waldo, except instead of a mass of people he’s hidden amongst the stalks.

Creepy I know.

But fun for the kids.
Click to expand...

Sadly or funny that I thought of Jaric also.

I read an article on this a few weeks ago:
Suicide Is Rising Among American Farmers As They Struggle To Keep Afloat

Here is the link:
https://www.npr.org/2018/05/16/611727777/suicide-is-rising-among-american-farmers-as-they-struggle-to-keep-afloat
 
We drove out to Missoula when our daughter was moving there. You're right about the terrain. Until you get to the Rockies, it's very flat. South Dakota was nothing but Sunflower fields all the way through on I-90. Minnesota was wheat fields and wind mill farms.

We were once driving through Penn from Ohio and got detoured off the highway. For what seemed forever, it was nothing but corn fields. It felt like something out of a horror movie. We expected aliens to pop out of them, and not the illegal kind.

One thing we've learned from several long drives is how varied this country is. And the open land is impressive. Coming from Central/Eastern Mass, we're not used to that.
 
Iowa is pretty much a big corn field. The whole state. Kansas has corn, but, a lot of wheat too. Nebraska is corn and wheat.
 
Two reasons for all the corn, at least in modern times;

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup. Generally speaking....if you eat a lot of crap, garbage, non-nutritious food, you are eating a lot of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

2. We sell it to Russia for cattle feed.
 
Baron Samedi said:
Two reasons for all the corn, at least in modern times;

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup. Generally speaking....if you eat a lot of crap, garbage, non-nutritious food, you are eating a lot of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

2. We sell it to Russia for cattle feed.
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Farmers are paid to grow it. Subsidized. They're welfare recipients. I'm not joking. I have relatives who farm over 30,000 acres of mostly wheat. I grew up in the ag industry. I even owned a combine before.
 
Alk said:
As a Midwesterner myself, it does appear that way when you're on the highways but people really do live there and they're some of the nicest people you're going to meet. I've visited a lot of states but none that I would rather live in.
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As I wrote that I was reasonably sure someone would take offence. Not only did I not disparage the people there, I didn't say it, I don't think it or believe it. I was referring to landscape only.

BTW, how's the pheasant hunting?
 
subroc said:
As I wrote that I was reasonably sure someone would take offence. Not only did I not disparage the people there, I didn't say it, I don't think it or believe it. I was referring to landscape only.

BTW, how's the pheasant hunting?
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I didn't take offense and realized that it wasn't you actually saying it. Just trying to dispel the rumors a bit. I really don't know about the pheasant hunting. Not a hunter myself...or a farmer for that matter.
 
Dwight Schrute said:
This is the government subsidized aspect. Saw a pretty decent 60 Minutes clip on it a few years back.
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Hemp is better for pretty much everything.

Prohibition and maryjane was mostly a Rockefeller thing. They wanted everyone to use their gasoline instead of the farmers making their own fuel out of their own crops. Henry Ford made his first cars to run on a variety of different fuels. It had nothing to do with the buzz. It was all about control.
 
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