Instead of ethanol, grow more wetlands-savvy cattle

It seems many of you are frustrated with government policies. I am as well: I am forced to buy ethanol with every gallon of gas I buy. Ethanol has 33% less energy per gallon and takes twice as much energy to produce than gas, and 40% of our annual U.S. crop goes into that production. I doubt farmers would consider draining wetlands if we didn’t create this false demand for corn. Ethanol would not be produced if it weren’t for government.

Maybe farmers would switch to growing something we actually eat, like cows, and the U of M could take some of the $660 million taxpayers gave them last year to do a study on how to rotationally graze around waterfowl habitat to benefit wildlife and farmers.

I sincerely hope a recent letter writer’s century farm is in your family in another century because small family farms make the best community possible and they are getting about as rare as a mallard duck these days.