DesMoinesRegister.com: Will there be enough corn?

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..."No one thinks Iowa will really convert 8 million acres of land to corn, and some of those proposed distilleries may never be built, given the recent slide in ethanol prices.

But the price of corn is steadily rising, and farmers are going to have grow more of it.

What does this mean for Iowa?

- More money in the pockets of farmers and landowners.

- Without careful conservation measures, more pollution in the state's rivers and streams as farmers use more fertilizer.

- Potentially, higher prices for food, primarily meat, as the price of feed goes up."...

..."To keep up with the demand for corn by producers like Tyson, some Iowa farmers are starting to grow corn year after year on the same ground, rather than rotating the fields between corn and soybeans. Farmers who do that increase their use of fertilizers and pesticides to maintain corn yields. Soybean plants add nitrogen to the soil, which reduces the need for synthetic fertilizer when corn is planted the following year.

Some of the nitrogen fertilizer applied by farmers will inevitably run off fields and pollute nearby streams and rivers, including the Des Moines and Raccoon, which supply drinking water to the Des Moines area."...