An interesting question. Used to be Iowa produced enough corn to feed two United States (if we were content to eat only corn). Probably overkill.
Corn has commercial uses too. In fact it's largely used for that - sugar, starch, protein, roughage are used in all sorts of processes. Touch nearly anything near you right now, corn was involved in it's manufacture.
Hard to say what impact cutting back on corn would have. A big one.
Are they growing corn in places that have water problems? I thought corn was largely grown in places that don’t need much irrigation, or at least isn’t having problems with its water table.
1.4% of the 97MM~ acres of corn planted go to human consumption (figures a few years old). Big fractions go to biofuel and animal feed, a slightly smaller fraction to industrial feedstocks.
The US government currently pays farmers to grow some corn for fuel, as well.
One fun factor is that corn is drought sensitive (esp during certain stages of growth) and only about a fifth of our corn is irrigated or something like that. As climate change heats up, we may experience more crop loss.
Corn has commercial uses too. In fact it's largely used for that - sugar, starch, protein, roughage are used in all sorts of processes. Touch nearly anything near you right now, corn was involved in it's manufacture.
Hard to say what impact cutting back on corn would have. A big one.