The last time US farmers were preparing to plant this much corn nylon had just been invented and the first Social Security benefits recently paid amid warnings from Father Charles Coughlin that the New Deal would lead to a dictatorship. Of course yields per acre in 1937 were less than one-fifth of what they are today. But domestic demand was a lot lower as well China was not a major importer and 40% of the corn crop wasn’t earmarked for burning as ethanol. One reason yields are so much higher now is the heavy use of nitrogen as fertilizer. ...