1/6/09 New Assignment & Take Out King

New Assignment & Take Out King plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives has named its next President and Chief Executive Officer. He's the outgoing Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Chuck Conner. NCFC is a Washington, D.C.  based trade association representing the interests of U.S. agricultural cooperatives. As he departs the USDA, Conner gives the Bush Administration high marks for restoring the U.S. farm economy. CONNER: In the early 2000's, in that period while people forget quickly, certainly those were very, very difficult economic times on America's farms and ranches. Extremely difficult. And of course throughout the latter part of of the Bush term we have had record farm income each year. Question. We all enjoy eating out but any idea who is tops in the take out market? You might be surprised. It is your local supermarket. The International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association's new report says food retailers offering prepared meals are experiencing a customer count growth at twice the rate of restaurants. The organization says the food retailer's - average meal price is half the cost of a restaurant meal. The report also indicates that consumers are - taking advantage of convenience, pricing, freshness, and healthful options and frequently feel that hot food bars in supermarkets are superior when it comes to taste and customization options. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. The use of methane gas to provide energy isn't a new idea, but to convert that gas to a useable form for a utility company and feed it directly into their pipelines is a new concept; one that can give dairy farmers not only credit for reducing emissions but also provide them with partial proceeds from the sale of the gas. David Albers is the brains behind the infrastructure design that will take biogas from several different dairies in order to do just that. A dairy farmer himself as well as an environmental attorney, Albers has more than just a vested interest in overseeing the success of this project. He already has one of the major hurdles behind him, a contract for the converted gas with a California electric company. With new energy mandates being issued utilities are searching for renewable energy sources. Albers credits the combination of several different existing technologies; he just applied them in a new way. Sometimes all it takes is for one individual to put the pieces together in a whole new order to come up with something brilliant. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.