By Bruce Raynor @ Shutterstock.com
Organic or not, poor countries just want something to eat. Jared Storm is an aerial applicator from Nebraska. What the heck is that to do with having enough to eat? Explaining in American Greatness that what he does – applying pesticides and fertilizer to crops throughout the summer months – Mr. Storm writes that he helps framers maximize their yields.
Forget Organic?
The goal is straightforward: to increase yields, which allows the United States to feed itself (which it does). Arial application (crop dusting) also feeds half the world, according to Mr. Storm:
Aircraft are just another tool for farmers to keep our food supply affordable, plentiful, and safe. Aerial application is very common throughout the United States and the rest of the world. Anywhere there is commercial agriculture, you will more than likely see an airplane or helicopter flying back and forth doing their thing with precision and skill.
What Do AG Planes Use for Fuel?
The AG aircraft Jared Storm operates uses Jet-A fuel, which is the same fuel used in airliners. It’s a refined form of diesel fuel.
Why Rising Food Prices?
Are you concerned about rising food prices? Mr. Jared wants readers to know that his cost for Jet-A has gone up 200% over the past year. The last 8,600-gallon tanker load purchased cost Jared $4.65 a gallon, which cost him $40,000. No surprise here: the person driving the truck, the one on the ground, wants a check before Mr. Jared leaves.
At Least $900 an Hour
During the height of spray season, Jared’s company might operate three aircraft, each burning around 60 gallons per hour, or about $900 an hour:
That’s one gallon of fuel burned per minute for each aircraft for a total of between 160-180 gallons an hour. This year, it will cost me around $900 an hour and could easily be $10,000 for the day in fuel costs alone. This cost will be passed along to the farmer, or to a corporate farm operation, both of which will try to pass this onto the end consumer—which is you. That means your food costs will go up dramatically.
Organic Food – a Luxury for the Wealthy
Only wealthy people with enough disposable in countries such as the United States have enough income to spend on organically grown food.
The poorest countries, which make up the bulk of the population of the world, just want something to eat.
The only way we can produce enough food to feed a big part of the world is by using traditional farming practices that involve pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs—and, of course, aerial application.
Why the War on Fossil Fuels?
Jared wants to know why Joe Biden canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline the day JB entered the White House? Jared assumes the current administration wants high fuel prices.
Nothing he sees gives him hope that fuel prices are going down anytime soon. Is the plan to make everyone excited enough to go out and buy a new electric vehicle? Not so fast, says Jared. He can’t go out and purchase a new electric AG plane:
No Such Thing as Lighter Batteries
Until Elon Musk can figure out how to make batteries lighter and hold enough charge to produce 750 horsepower all day long, Jared’s AG plane will be burning fossil fuel.
The drive to eliminate fossil fuels and “decarbonize” the economy is unsustainable and will have consequences most Americans have not even considered. If we don’t change course, it has the potential to absolutely destroy our economy and country.
Fossil fuels are the lifeblood of any modern economy and will be for the foreseeable future. To think we can just eliminate them by willing it so is the stuff of fantasyland.
There is nothing green for the farming community in the era of the Green New Deal: only red ink and high costs, which means the cost of food will continue to increase.
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