On Mon, 27 Mar 2000, Cynthia wrote:
> James Rogers <jamesr@best.com> wrote:
>
> > Having lived near a grain dump, I can attest to the enormous quantities of
> > grain that are dumped every year. I have no idea what the exact quantity
> > is but I am pretty sure that the U.S. dumps over a million tons of grain
> > each year.
>
> Why are they dumping grain instead of using it for animal feed?
Simple logistics -- cost of distribution is a substantial fraction of the
total cost. In regions where grain producers are near animal farmers, the
animals are generally grain fed since it is a high quality protein source
and cheap feed. However, in many regions that do not support grain
production (such as the western semi-arid states) the animals are often
range/grass fed since abundant, quality food sources such as alfalfa make
cheaper feed than importing grain hundreds or thousands of miles.
Many of the areas where grain is dumped in large quantities are
in regions that have no significant animal production. The additional
cost of shipping often raises the price to the point where it is no longer
competitive within the U.S. Nonetheless, grain is produced so cheaply in
the U.S. that cost of production plus shipping overseas is still
substantially cheaper than the cost of local production in most countries.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com
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