America's corn economy unsustainable

America's fast food culture also driven by corn

Go to any one of America's fast food restaurants and your burger or chicken sandwich almost certainly comes from an animal that was predominantly corn fed.

"The trend over the past few decades has been to push for cheap animal protein," says Vicki Hird of environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth. She notes that government subsidies that favour corn have encouraged pesticide- and fertiliser-intensive monoculture farming in the US. "We are using corn in ways that are completely unsustainable," says Hird in the New Scientist.

Yet, as ethanol has grown, there has been a push for soy based feed for animals. Unfortunately, this soy is coming from Brazil, and it comes at the expense of the deforestation of rain forests that constitute one of the world's last clean air recyclers.

Will America ever stop being so corny?