Earlier this week I spoke with a relative who is a large-scale farmer located in Michigan. He was pleased about the success of this year’s wheat crop. During the conversation it was disclosed that his wheat, like most grown today, is genetically-modified to make it resistant to all the traditional pests, pestilence and weather problems that usually causes havoc with production of unmodified, or natural, grain.
The result is a harvest yield in bushels per acre that is often two-thirds again larger than that of natural grain!
I don’t have a problem with genetically-modified wheat, as it has been tested and goes a long way towards feeding a growing population who has traded the ability to feed themselves for “employment” by others. Another friend, who resides in east Texas, is of the opinion that genetic modification “adds empty filler and dilutes the nutritional value of the grain.”
He goes on to theorize a nutritional equilibrium: “there is only so much protein per acre. If natural grain produces 75 bushels, and modified grain produces 150 bushels on that same acre, then,” he claims, “the modified wheat has only half the nutrition per bushel as the natural.”
“The wheat is diluted, like the gasoline in your SUV!”
This last comment is in reference to a phenomenon we have observed for the past several years. In Texas and Louisiana it appears someone is “watering the gasoline.”
The SUV in question is a late model Ford Explorer with a very accurate factory-installed fuel computer. Used in my business, almost all driving is done on open highways across America, so the effects of city or stop-and-go traffic are negated.
It has been observed that when driving in Texas and Louisiana at 75 miles per hour, using an 87-octane-10%-ethanol fuel blend, the Explorer delivers 17.1 miles per gallon. When driving in the mountains of Colorado, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, that same purported fuel blend delivers 22.1 miles per gallon. That is an increase of 5 miles per gallon across terrains that requires the vehicle engine to work harder!
Obviously some fuel marketers are lying in Texas and Louisiana! Either the suppliers are adding water to the ethanol to increase its volume, but decrease its power, or the octane value of the actual gasoline base is lower than represented on the pump. Moreover, the 17.1 mpg fuel sells for about the same as the 22.1 mpg fuel.
In spite of the opinion of my east Texas friend, USDA and FDA testing has proven that the nutritional value for a bushel of genetically-modified wheat is the same as that for a bushel of natural wheat. The increase in production is due to better survival during the crop growing cycle.
With regard to the mountain vs flat land gas mileage mystery, it is suspected that “there’s a whole lot of thieving going on” in the gulf coast fuel market. Where is 60 Minutes when you need them?
