1/5/09 Selling Ethanol & Food Prices

Selling Ethanol & Food Prices plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Ethanol sales in Brazil outpaced the sales of gasoline for the first time in 2008. Confirmation came from Brazil's National Petroleum Agency. The agency said, - the figures only take into account sales of hydrated ethanol that can be used in its pure form in most cars in Brazil, and not anhydrous ethanol that is used just to blend with gasoline. Sales of hydrated ethanol, through October, hit 15.8 billion liters or 4.2 billion gallons. That's up 44.9 percent from a year earlier. Raw farm commodity prices are down drastically, as are energy costs, but why have supermarket food prices not declined in step? Ephriam Leibtag, USDA economist, says there is not much pressure right now to push food prices up, but food stores have little pressure to lower prices, either. LEIBTAG: I don't see much pressure overall in terms of inflation for consumer products. The only potential risk for food is if some of these commodities start to shoot back up if there's a weather event, if there is some situation internationally or globally that causes a temporary shortage and so we see a repeat cycle. Right now we don't see that happening in '09 to the extent that it happened in '08 but because it is so new and recent in our memory people are hesitant to make any price changes. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. Well, the holidays are officially over. I have packed up the Christmas decorations and put them neatly back in their storage boxes. The bright holiday lights are already coiled up and back in their proper places in the garage. The mountain of recyclables is waiting at the curb to be whisked away to await their transformations. Now I can sit down and do what I so eagerly look forward to each year at about this time, browsing through my seed and garden catalogs, making my wish list. Forget the Christmas wish lists; this is THE LIST for me. This year might just find more than the typical gardening enthusiasts trying to decide which flower and vegetable plants to choose. The close of 2008 brings with it a sense of much needed renewal, felt by nearly all Americans. Nothing speaks more to me of renewal than springtime with the joy of planting and nature's bounty yet to come. Victory Gardens, most notable in the depression era, may find precedence once again as families tighten their grocery budgets. And nothing quite brings a family together like planting seeds and watching them grow. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.