Chicken Company to Cut 1,000 Jobs: "Renewable Fuel" industry blamed.

[NNadir]

Yeah, I know, I know: Renewable energy creates jobs, except when it costs jobs.

Pilgrim's Pride to Shut Chicken Plant, Cut 1,100 Jobs (Update2)

By Choy Leng Yeong

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the world's biggest poultry processor, will close a U.S. chicken-processing plant, six distribution centers and cut 1,100 jobs because of surging feed costs that have put the industry into ``crisis.''

The closing of the plant in Siler City, North Carolina, and six of the company's 13 U.S. distribution centers will be completed by June and result in charges of $21.7 million, or 33 cents a share, Pittsburg, Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride said today in a statement.

The company blamed higher costs for feed ingredients in January when it reported an unexpected net loss of $32.3 million, or 49 cents a share, in the three months ended Dec. 29. Pilgrim's Pride said today it's reviewing other production facilities for possible closings, citing an oversupply and a ``crisis facing the U.S. chicken industry'' because of rising feed costs...

``Our company and industry are struggling to cope with unprecedented increases in feed-ingredient costs this year due largely to the U.S. government's ill-advised policy of providing generous federal subsidies to corn-based ethanol blenders,'' Chief Executive Officer J. Clint Rivers said in the statement.

``Based on current commodity futures markets, our company's total costs for corn and soybean meal to feed our flocks in fiscal 2008 would be more than $1.3 billion higher than what they were two years ago,'' Rivers said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=axGaGV2QF_BM&refer=home

Bold is mine.

Biofuels will save us.

[pbca]

1. I've said it before

Biofuel is not a legitimate fuel alternative - especially not from corn! It takes more energy to produce corn ethanol than you get back from it.

Ethanol is a farm subsidy disguised as an environmental program. n/t

[supernova]

2. So we will stubbornly

continue to buy pure gasoline to get the chickens to market, instead of the ethanol-blended fuel that could cut emissions, and if marketed correctly, allow us to raise our prices and seem "green" all at the same time.

I swear, greedhead capitalists are such complete morons, even when it might be in their best interests, they choose stupidity or smarts.

[dbackjon]

3. Ethanol causes more pollution, uses more petroleum than it saves

Ethanol is a strawman, and anyone that supports it is either clueless about it's negative effects on the environment, or is profitting from it.

[pbca]

4. Aside from negative effects

It just doesn't work as a substitute. When it comes to corn it takes more energy to produce than you get back and if you covered the entire united states with corn (every mountaintop, leveled every building to grow it etc) it would not be enough to meet US energy demand.

[losthills]

5. I object to the use of the word "renewables"

to describe ethanol.

"Biofuels" is good descriptor. "Renewables" is not.

[NNadir]

6. Oh really? Can we expect you to object in the same way when the external cost of solar PV

becomes obvious?

It seems to me that the word "renewables" is limited to systems that exist only in fancy.

[losthills]

7. Solar power is renewable, Biofuels are not.

In my humble opinion...

[NNadir]

8. It is well that your opinion is humble.

In fact, the biofuels scam sounded great until it was tried, much like solar will prove, if it ever gets to an exajoule.

It's like prospective parents imagining what their kid will be, mostly just romantic nonsense.

Solar electricity is not risk free; it's not even risk minimized. It's just too trivial to notice.