[Thanks S.Choudhary ji for forwarding this information- Moderator]

Editorial
The Farmer's Nightmare?

Published: August 10, 2007

Only a few years ago, ethanol was just a line in a farm-state
politician's stump speech — something that went down well with the
locals but didn't mean much to anyone else. Now, of course, ethanol is
widely touted — and, within reason, rightly so — as an important part
of America's search for energy independence and greener fuels. One
day, we may be using cellulosic ethanol, the kind derived from
grasses. For now, the ethanol boom is all about corn. And the real
question is whether that will finally kill American farming as we know it.

Farmers in the corn belt have watched the coming of the ethanol boom
with an ill-concealed excitement. They've invested in small-town
processing plants, and they've happily seen the price of corn
fluctuate steadily upward. But land prices have also moved steadily
upward. Land set aside for conservation is being put back into
production. And a bidding war has broken out over acreage, a war that
farmers are sure to lose to speculative investors.

In short, the ethanol boom is accelerating the inequity in the rural
landscape. The high price of corn — and the prospect of continued huge
demand — doesn't benefit everyone equally. It gives bigger, richer
farmers and outside investors the ability to outcompete their smaller
neighbors. It cuts young farmers hoping to get a start out of the
equation entirely. It reduces diversity in crops and in farm size.

For the past 75 years, America's system of farm subsidies has
unfortunately driven farming toward such concentration, and there's no
sign that the next farm bill will change that. The difference this
time is that American farming is poised on the brink of true
industrialization, creating a landscape driven by energy production
and what is now called "biorefining." What we may be witnessing is the
beginning of the tragic moment in which the ownership of America's
farmland passes from the farmer to the industrial giants of energy and
agricultural production.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/opinion/10fri2.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin\
&oref=slogin