U.S. conservation land may soon end up in your gas tank

Well isn’t this delightful (sub rqd):

The Agriculture Department may allow farmers to plow up land in conservation agreements to plant row crops, despite a record corn crop this year, fueled by the ethanol industry’s thirst for the feedstock.

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Acting Secretary Chuck Conner told reporters this week that USDA is considering releasing some land currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers to idle nearly 34 million acres of land for wildlife habitat or soil or water conservation.

Corn ethanol: always even more awesome than you think!