Corn and Soybeans: rescue of the western world

[skra75]

Imagine this for a second. OK, corn and soybeans share a synergistic agricultural relationship. Where, after corn is grown, the nutrients are drained from the soil. soybeans are then grown in the next season to replenish the nutrients to the soil.

corn, obviously, can be chemically altered to become ethanol. ethonal is an excellent source of fuel for combustion engines, and creates virtually no pollution. thus, fields could be worked with ethanol burning tractors and equipment.

soy, is really the most amazing plant on the face of the earth. it is an excellent source of protein (humans could totally live on soybeans and water), can be synthesized into "polymers" and used in injection molding process, can be used to create ink, all sorts of other stuff.

between these two grown, renewable resources you have fuel and a plastic. as well as food. and the two support each other as they are grown.

the US has more farmland than any country in the entire world.

why can't we as americans kick this off? in supporting the soy/corn connection, the us farmer would become empowered, bolstering the economy. especially the jobless midwest.

a fucking shame we have to keep burning what little oil we have left ont he planet instead of using it to create plastic shit that will be used over and over again.

[monkey]

read this: Omnivore's Dilemma (http://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dilemma-Michael-Pollan/dp/1594200823/sr=8-1/qid=1159759927/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8372136-8580764?ie=UTF8&s=books)

[Lyman Zerga]

some random dude said soy will be THE food of the future and it will solve many problems

hmm we will see

[Bob]

yeah but how's it taste?

[skra75]

read this: Omnivore's Dilemma (http://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dilemma-Michael-Pollan/dp/1594200823/sr=8-1/qid=1159759927/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8372136-8580764?ie=UTF8&s=books)

korn phr33k lol

[cosmo105]

corn has been so ridiculously hybridized (bastardized, really) from its original form that it's become practically devoid of nutrients except starch. native american societies grew ancient corn (the kind you see in textbooks with like four kernels) that was very high in protein and tons of other macro and micronutrients, and along with squash and beans, that was almost their entire diet. (meat was consumed on special occasions, i.e. after a hunt, several times a year, in a large number of tribes.) corn leeched the nitrogen from the soil, but - yay! squash and beans replaced this nitrogen. the cornstalks provided trellises and shade for the squash and beans. it was a genius system. this way, crops didn't have to be rotated - the same things could be grown on a single plot of land for generations.

but the way corn is today, it's practically sugary cardboard. sucks. wish i could have some of that ancient corn. i have a source that tells me (ok, a creepy old guy with a really obvious painful awkward crush on me that used to shop where i worked long ago) that it still exists in a kind of underground agricultural network, but the gov. and such have it in their best interests to supress that. they keep the grains that can't reproduce themselves well (like bananas), and farmers have to buy the seeds from them. sucks.

soy's been modified a lot too. that's what most of the soy backlash is based on, i think. i haven't done enough research into it to say one way or the other how i feel about it. but as with anything, the key is really moderation. if you have too much of anything in your diet it can be harmful.

[Lyman Zerga]

i think you know too much!

it's killing all the fun :(


you 90percent something something soy nerd! ;)

[Lyman Zerga]

korn phr33k lol


lmao! gets me everytime (y)