Fool's Errand & Spontaneous Combustion

Fool’s Errand & Spontaneous Combustion plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The American Farm Bureau Federation is opposed to H.R. 2454, the House-passed climate change bill. AFBF President Bob Stallman told the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works that the House-passed legislation will have little to no impact on global temperatures without the adoption of similar actions by other countries, and that the U.S. will be embarking on a fool’s errand. Bottom line is the dollar.

STALLMAN: Not every dairy farmer can afford to capture methane, it’s a capital intensive endeavor. Not every farmer lives in a region where wind turbines are an option; not every farmer can take advantage of no-till; not every farmer has the land to set aside to plant trees – yet every farmer has production costs to meet.

Hay fires causing a big concern. For a fourth time in three weeks, a large pile of hay burst into flames and fire investigators are pointing to spontaneous combustion as the reason. This latest hay fire occurred near Marsing, Idaho where crews spent most of the day putting out burning bales of hay. The Idaho Farm Bureau is worried hay prices could skyrocket to near record highs, with the trickledown effect hitting consumers at the grocery store. Farm officials call it the worst hay fire season they've seen since the 1990s.

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

I don’t know about you but my family hasn’t rushed out to eat at fast food restaurants because of the economic recession like so many reports have been touting, quite the contrary.  We are pinching pennies, who isn’t, but in the effort to do just that we are eating out less.  By eating at home more we are rediscovering not only each other, but just how good home cooking really was. My son told me the other night he had forgotten just how scrumptious, (his word, not mine), my homemade chicken soup really was! I have a new game that I play comparing how little I actually spend on the ingredients for a home cooked meal as opposed to how much that same meal would cost me dining out.  The difference is generally quite a substantial savings; especially when you take into account that several of the ingredients can be used to make several meals.  Now when we do indulge and eat out it’s a real treat. In the mean time I’m having a grand time perusing my recipe books and finding my way around the fresh produce and butcher block departments at my local grocers.   

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