12/01/08 Farm Payment Question & Ethanol Ruling

Farm Payment Question & Ethanol Ruling plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Following the revelation by the Government Accounting Office that some 27-hundred farmers with non-farm income, may not have qualified for farm payments, one question arises: Will the Obama administration elect to spend more money on enforcement and on the intent of Congress? That question may not be answered right away with all of the other economic problems the Obama administration faces. The Obama Administration is likely to make the final decision on a pending EPA rule to increase the current 10-percent blend percentage of ethanol in gasoline.Ag groups see bringing down the so-called blend wall - which limits the ethanol blend percentage in gasoline - as key to dealing with an excess of ethanol supply, reducing oil imports and helping the U.S. economy. American Farm Bureau Energy Specialist Anne Steckel is hopeful the Obama team will support an increase in the 10-percent ethanol blend limit for conventional gasoline. STECKEL: It seems at this late date that this will be something that the Obama administration will be working on. I know the Bush administration has been working on this for some time now and has some things in the pipeline but because we're nearing the end of the Presidency and getting ready to go into the transition team into the new Obama administration it will be something they look at closely and from what their comments have been, we would hope it would be something they would support. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. The shift of power over the next few weeks from a Bush administration to an Obama nation is fostering a passel of opinions on what this change will mean not only for the United States but what affect that change will have in regards to how the rest of the world views the U.S.. Many are hoping that the change in the White House will also change the anti-Americanism that has grown increasingly across the globe. One such sentiment went as far as to say that the departure of Bush's cowboy diplomacy from the White House would mean an instant improvement for America's image. Whoa, back up the buggy just a gol darn minute! Let's not be slamming cowboys, or cowgirls for that matter. Bush's leadership tactics had more to do with politics, and sometimes just plain bad judgment than it did with anything even remotely close to cowboy diplomacy. America should remain proud of their cowboy heritage. As James P. Owen states in his book, "Cowboy Ethics", "Wall Street could learn a lot from the code of the West". Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.