Omnivore's Dilemma: Chs. 1, 2, and 3.
Corn plays a pretty big part in our everyday lives. Although we may not know it, corn is a component for many of the foods that we eat day to day, and even other non-food products also used daily. More than a quarter of the forty-five thousand items in an American supermarket contain corn. Chicken nuggets, beer, waffles, syrup, and even bologna all contain corn. Even though corn is a major staple and an ingredient in tens of thousands of food items, the production side is quite difficult. Iowa is one of several states that produce corn. Conditions for Iowa corn farmers have grown increasingly worse over the last seven or eight decades or so. One farmer, George Naylor, has a one hundred sixty acres of corn planted on his farm. However, when the price of corn is only one dollar per bushel, it doesn't work out so well for him. Even so, Naylor keeps planting seeds and growing corn. The price of corn varies very often. When Naylor was planning to sell his corn, the price was at three dollars a bushel. By the time he actually sold, it was a dollar - a price that is good for everyone but the corn farmer. Naylor keeps planting because of the strange economics of corn farming. The benefits are reaped by the suppliers of many food products. They buy this corn at a low price and utilize it to make their products and ultimately sell it to consumers. The corn farmer is still left in peril.
The economics of corn farming probably should be a sign for the corn farmer to get out of business, but to the corn farmer I feel like its more of a challenge - a challenge to persevere and keep doing what they know and eventually make a profit. The price per bushel fluctuates so often that maybe one day it could be highly inflated and corn farmers will make a killing. Also, most of these corn farmers are descendants of corn farmers, so they probably feel like they owe it to their father and grandfathers before them to keep farming and carry on.
1. Considering there is always a high demand for corn with a limited supply, why does the price per bushel get so low?
2. What is it about corn that makes it so usable in tens of thousands of food products?
I think that the price is so low because the farmers don't abide by the rules of supply and demand. Instead of slowing down production when price is low, farmers keep increasing production to support a family and keep their farm in business.
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