Farm Bill Work Week, Wolf Predation & Oil Industry Criticism

Tuesday May 8th, 2012 29 Views Northwest Report

Farm Bill Work Week, Wolf Predation & Oil Industry Criticism plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The American Petroleum Institute is accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of not doing its homework before approving the sale of gasoline containing 15-percent ethanol. An API-funded review of studies on equipment compatibility with E15 produced sobering results according to Bob Greco, the Institute’s Director for Downstream and Industry Operations.

GRECO: An estimated half of the existing retail outlet equipment is not compatible with E15. Unfortunately it may be hard for a station to know whether its equipment is or is not compatible which could discourage many of the nation 157-thousand gas and retail outlets from selling E15.

The House Agriculture Committee will continue public hearings on farm bill programs in the nation’s capital this week. Specialty crop and nutrition programs will be reviewed by the Nutrition Subcommittee on today while the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight and Credit will look at credit programs Thursday. It will of course be interesting to see how this beast shapes up.

ODFW confirmed that four penned sheep (two ewes, two lambs) were killed by a wolf on private land east of Weston, Ore., in northern Umatilla County. Based on evidence at the scene, wildlife biologists believe a single wolf was involved in the depredation.ODFW is also working to capture and radio-collar the wolf.

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

Every week of the year seems to be designated to a particular cause or theme. Take this week for example, it is International Compost Awareness Week, celebrated each year the first full week of May. There’s even a poster contest, with the winner receiving $500. Sorry, this year’s winner has already been chosen, but there’s always next year’s ICAW. If you haven’t already started a compost bin, perhaps this is the year to start. Compost bins are easy enough to build on your own, or if you aren’t the do it yourself type, there’s a wide variety of commercially made compost bins on the market. Composting isn’t hard, you just have to remember to turn it and feed it a regular diet of compostable material, such as garden and grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds, leaves, and even hair and animal fur. You probably noticed this long list did not include meat, fish, bones, dairy products, or pet poo, all major no no’s for a healthy compost pile! Compost experts suggest feeding your compost bin with a 50/50 weight combo, balancing fifty percent green compost material with fifty percent browns by weight.

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