US Corn Crop Failure

I think it is a fundamental mistake to base human society's agricultural efforts around corn and soybeans. Corn is more efficient at making carbohydrates from sunlight than many other plants [0], but mono-cropping [1] corn loses whatever efficiency might be gained.

Grains are useful because they can be stored for years before they're used. Chickens, pork and other animals are fed grain because it's convenient for mega-businesses that don't have enough kitchen scraps to feed their millions of animals.

Potatoes are much better food for humans (and animals), but they are a living food that have to be used right away, or processed/preserved for later use (dried/frozen/etc).

I have a book somewhere that says the dairy cow is the most efficient means of converting the grass on a rocky slope into human-usable protein.

Agriculture is fundamentally a labor-intensive endeavor. The replacement of the mixed (family) farm with monocrops is a great vulnerability, no matter the cause of unpredictable weather.

Corn-based ethanol is stupid, full-stop. If the corn crop does fail this year, I wonder how much corn can be saved by stopping the ethanol plants. In the future, maybe ethanol could be made from corn that hasn't been used after 7-10 years in storage, or from corn that becomes moldy while being stored.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C4_carbon_fixation#Plants_that...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monocropping#Soil_ecology

Yes, it's a bad situation. The article makes an error that is noted by Paul Beckwith: there is no "deadline" for crops anymore as there's only previous "guidelines." Farmers have to guess and gamble about more uncertain and variable future weather if they will be able to plant. https://youtu.be/Z-QenYgC8oM