High corn prices are forcing farmers and ranchers to turn to alternatives for feeding their animals, including discarded processed foods.
CNBC reports that a corn crop depressed by flooding and other weather problems has raised the price of feed corn so much that farmers are turning to other options for feeding their hogs, poultry and cattle. Some of these include processed products like pet food, baked goods and candies, purchased from food recyclers like ReConserve. The foods are safe for animal consumption but are past their sell-by date or have processing or packaging flaws that make them unsalable as originally intended.
Other alternatives include feeding animals more wheat, which is becoming cost-competitive with corn as a feedstock; feeding them byproducts from ethanol production; and importing corn from Brazil.
