Infrastructure Funding & Tracking Foreclosures

Infrastructure Funding & Tracking Foreclosures

Infrastructure Funding & Tracking Foreclosures plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Marking the 39th anniversary of Earth Day last week, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced millions in funding for 62 infrastructure projects in local communities across the country to improve water availability and quality

VILSACK: USDA Also provides rural communities with safe drinking water and modern waste disposal systems. USDA Rural Development is providing $170-million dollars in loans and grants from its regular funding effort in rural communities in 34 states to fund new water and waste water infrastructure systems.

Vilsack pointed out that this is not part of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act - but is part of an ongoing USDA effort that must continue. A complete list of loan and grant recipients is available online.

A company that tracks real estate foreclosures says the Treasure Valley area has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. RealtyTrac ranked cities across the country based on the number of foreclosures seen in the first quarter of 2009.  The top 26 cities were all located in four states: California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada. The first city outside those hot zones was the Boise-Nampa metro area, ranking 27th on the list.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

My Grandfather used to say “some people would complain if you hung them with a rubber rope.” Take the great ethanol debate. People the world over are looking for a replacement for fossil fuel, but when offered an alternative in corn ethanol, they complain that using corn for fuel will result in “taking food out of people’s mouths” and send food prices skyrocketing. The USDA is reporting that an expected 1.7 billion bushels of corn will be leftover after the 2009 growing season. The argument there’s a shortage of corn due to ethanol production tends to loose some of it’s validity in light of such a report. And while grain prices have fallen more than fifty percent from last years highs, retail food prices remain high; suggesting that retailers are using ethanol as a scapegoat while they continue to rake in high profits. Crude oil continues to contribute more to food production than corn. Most crops are harvested using diesel fuel, transported by gasoline operated vehicles and packaged using petroleum and plastics. Even when the growth, production and transportation of corn are taken into account the energy conversion remains positive.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

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