A house built with grain
Now we are getting our grain food and feed supply back to a more normal way of life. The spike in corn use and its price appear to be back to normal. I though I would inform you of the number of items that are manufactured from our field grains. They are not all eaten by livestock and us.
One big use of corn is in sweeteners in much of our drinks. And as one newsperson said recently, corn is like our vegetable candy. We eat a lot of corn — on and off the cob. Ethanol is still the second largest demand for our corn crop.Yet our grains as a whole are increasing in demand in various products that go into our homes and their furnishings. Progressive Farmer magazine pointed out many of these products in a recent article.
The Rust-Oleum Company is using soybean oil to make a new product — a water-based varathane for wood surfaces. A soybean derivative is being made into padding for furniture and mattresses. Another soybean byproduct is adhesives for joining short pieces of lumber with finger-joins.
Corn sugar is now being developed into carpets and carpet-backings. Sherwin Williams paints are offering paints blended with soy and sunflower oils. The cabinets in your home could be made from fiberboard bound with resins made from soybean oil. Your drywall very likely contains a binder made from corn or wheat starch. Your home may be insulated with a soy-based spray that forms foam expanding 100 times to fill gaps open to cold or hot air. The structurally insulated panels on your house are very likely bonded together by a soybean resin.
This is, by no means, a complete list of farm grain products used in a way other than as food or grain. It should give you a better idea of how our farm grains are consumed. In one way this saves us money and in another way it may drive up some items’ price.
At any rate your home may appear to be a little closer to being “back home on the farm.” Our use of all these renewable products must be always used wisely as true stewards of our planet.
Father Samuel Heitkamp is pastor of St. Joan of Arc Church in Kirby and was the director of the former rural life organization in the archdiocese.