US EditionCorn’s Clean-Energy Promise Is Clashing with Its Climate Footprint
Federal ethanol mandates have driven a 50% rise in U.S. corn production, increasing fertilizer use and nitrous oxide emissions, which experts link to worsening water pollution and climate impacts.
- Soon after, the Renewable Fuel Standard required ethanol blending in gasoline, driving up corn demand and prices and tripling corn used for ethanol in recent decades.
- State and national grower groups lobbied relentlessly and trade groups spent more than $55 million in Washington to push ethanol blending mandates soon after.
- Researchers link the policy to expanded continuous corn and heavier fertilizer use, with corn consuming over two-thirds of U.S. nitrogen and agriculture causing more than 10% of greenhouse emissions.
- Families report contaminated wells with nitrate levels over twice EPA limits, while the USDA canceled the Climate-Smart program, reducing farmers' conservation incentives.
- Industry pushes higher-ethanol blends and aviation uses, with a 2024 WRI analysis finding ethanol-based jet fuel would need about 114 million acres of corn, increasing land and fertilizer use risks.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Corn’s clean energy promise is clashing with its climate footprint
Reading Time: 11 minutes For decades, corn has reigned over American agriculture. It sprawls across 90 million acres — about the size of Montana — and goes into everything from livestock feed and processed foods to the ethanol blended into most of the nation’s gasoline. But a growing body of research reveals that America’s obsession with corn has a steep price: The fertilizer used to grow it is warming the planet and contaminating water. Corn i…
Corn’s clean-energy promise is clashing with its climate footprint
This story is from Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powers stalling climate action. Sign up for Floodlight’s newsletter here. For decades, corn has reigned over American agriculture. It sprawls across 90 million acres — about the size of Montana — and goes into everything from livestock feed and processed foods to the ethanol blended into most of the nation’s gasoline. But a growing body of research reveals that America’s…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 55% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
