Letters to the editor

Will we be food- dependent, too?

When we started allowing our companies and corporations to move to India and China a few years back, little did we know that it would start a vicious cycle. And who knows where it will end?

When they left, they also took the jobs, pensions and health care for many, many workers and to make matters worse, as the economies in these countries grew, they needed more and more oil to fuel their needs. Eventually, this caused great pressure on the worldwide oil market, driving the price higher and higher. To fight the oil shortage ethanol became a big issue. Unfortunately, ethanol is made from corn, so quickly, farmers started selling their corn for ethanol.

Corn is also the main feed for livestock. With more corn going into making ethanol the price of meat, milk and other dairy products are skyrocketing. As the farmers take more and more land out of production to plant corn, it put pressure on all other crops which is now forcing the price of all foods up.

Add these problems to the constant development of farmland in the United States and it will not be long before the United States of America will not be able to feed itself.

To rely on more and more imported food is insane. Two examples of this problem are the tainted feed that went into pet food that came from China, and the recent article about contaminated fish from the same country. We will soon be at the mercy of other countries for our energy and our food.

Bob Powers

Round Lake Beach