On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 16:53:15 GMT, Don Foster
wrote:



Dean Hoffman wrote:
On 7/19/03 11:42 AM, in article , "Don Foster"
wrote:


An exploration into the notion of how Iowa farmers would fare in feeding
the world produced an unlikely result: the soy and corn crops of thirty
three Iowa(s) would feed the world's population at 3500 Cal./day. I
would appreciate a review of my figuring if someone is willing.

Estimated world population 5/23/03 = 6,294,523,715 human beings

World kcal. requirements @ 3500 Kcal./day/human being = 2.20308E+13 kcal.

World kcal. requirements/year = 8.04125E+15 kcal.

Iowa 2002 corn = 1,960,000,000 bushels
Iowa 2002 soy = 494,900,000 bushels

Iowa 2002 corn @ 60lb./bushel = 1.176E+11 lbs.
Iowa 2002 soy @ 60lb./bushel = 2.9694E+10 lbs.

Kcal./lb corn = 1828 kcal./lb. corn
Kcal./lb. soy = 1579 kcal./lb. soy

Kcal. Iowa corn 2002 = 1.8569E+14 kcal.
Kcal. Iowa soy 2002 = 5.4281E+13 kcal.

Total kcal. Iowa corn & soy 2002 = 2.39971E+14 kcal/year (2002)

World annual kcal. requirements/ Iowa 2002 corn & soy kcal. production =
33.51


My thanks,
Don Foster
Colorado



This isn't a big thing but corn is generally accepted to be 56 pounds per
bushel.
More information he

http://www.usda.gov/gipsa/pubs/96ex.pdf


Thanks, yes, probably soy is less too. Sixty is what a friend rememberd for wheat.

Correct me if I am wrong (bushel is a rather exotic unit
for a metric mind) but wouldn't that bushel to lbs conversion
depend on the water content? For good accuracy, figures for
kcal/lb should be representative of the water content in
the lbs.