Myths & FAQs

The price of food increases

Fuel corn is "feedstock" corn - the type corn which is used to feed chickens, cattle, hogs, and other livestock. It is not the corn people eat, such as sweet corn or “nibblets”. In fact, the estimated surplus of feedstock corn from the 2008 harvest is estimated to be 1.7 billion bushels. This is enough to heat 6.5 million homes in Michigan just like yours. The 2009 feedstock corn crop is expected to be the second largest on record, and will probably result in an even greater surplus this time next year.

Virgin land is turned into farmland

Virtually all of the land perceived to be virgin was farmed in the recent past. It is land the owner placed in the Federal Government's Conservation Reserve Program (or "CRP"). The landowner receives payment for not farming CRP-enrolled land over the course of a multi-year contract. Approximately 30 million acres are enrolled in the program to grow no crops yet receive payments. When the CRP contract expires, the owner must decide to re-enroll or to again farm the land.

It is this formerly CRP-enrolled land - not untilled forest, prarie, or grassland - that is being put back into service as farmland to grow crops for biomass heating.

Things to think about

Solar and wind are the cleanest sources of energy now available. Yet it estimated the earliest either can become a major player in the energy supply market is 2030. What do we do during that 20 year time, wait and hope? Or act and transition? Are solar and wind economically feasible? Just a few months ago, the President hailed the opening of a solar complex in Nevada. Cost: $130,000,000+ Return: $1,000,000 per year. Corn2Heat LLC wishes to borrow money, from the taxpayers or whoever, at that payment schedule and interest rate. Know any lenders we can contact? If so, we’ll be there in the morning.

Biomass heating is here now, environmentally and economically superior to present fossil fuels.

Let’s use it now to the maximum!