This is the VOA SpecialEnglish Agriculture Report.
Last week, we told about the use of corn to feed cows in thecattle industry. This week we tell about other industrial uses forthe crop. For example, corn is the most important sweetener used inthe American food industry. Sugars from corn can be found in a hugenumber of products. One sweetener, high fructose corn syrup, isfound in popular drinks and sweet food. It is sweeter than naturalsugar and also less costly.
About seventy-percent of corn isstarch. Cornstarch is a kind of complex carbohydrate. Cornstarch isadded to many foods. It is also used to make paper and many otherproducts. Corn is even used to make explosives.
Surprisingly different substances can be made from corn products.Corn can be processed in one way to make oil for cooking. Processedanother way, it can be used to make alcohol. Both alcoholic drinksand industrial alcohol can be made from a mixture of crushed corn.
Corn can even be used as a fuel. The United States Department ofAgriculture has supported research on ethanol, a fuel alcohol, formany years. Ethanol can be added to gasoline to make high qualityfuel for cars. However, ethanol is more costly than gasoline.
The research agency of the Department of Agriculture continues tolook for ways to produce ethanol at a lower cost. The AgriculturalResearch Service has found a method to continuously produce ethanolmore effectively than ever before. Farmers in the central part ofthe United States support ethanol as a new market for their crop.Yet there are problems with the increasing ethanol market.
Ethanol becomes more useful economically when corn prices andgasoline prices are low. But these conditions reduce profits for thefarmers who grow corn and reduce the need for ethanol.
Also, programs to increase the use of ethanol have not beensuccessful in the past. It may be surprising, but the firstwidely-produced car in America, the Ford Model T, could use ethanolfuel as well as gasoline. Yet ethanol has not been important inAmerica since the end of World War Two.
In many industries, new uses for corn are being found all thetime. Corn continues to become more economically important. But, cana crop become too successful? Next week, we will tell about thehidden costs of corn.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by MarioRitter.