Tribune Article Slams Ag & Walden Fights for Forests

Tribune Article Slams Ag & Walden Fights for Forests plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. A recent article in the Chicago Tribune has raised the ire of the ag industry after declaring in an opinion piece that big agriculture is fighting to maintain the government handouts that have pumped up its profits for generations. American Farm Bureau Director Dale Moore was not pleased with the piece. MOORE: Folks who write those kinds of stories do not understand the full breadth and scope of agricultural production in this country because not every commodity is going to have a bumper crop this year. Some are dealing with drought, some are dealing with too much rain particularly in some of the states in the south. Taking a look at this the livestock producers - their still digging out from three straight years of drought in some parts of the country. Oregon's U.S. Rep. Greg Walden wants to put people back to work in the woods, create healthy forests and communities, and provide essential local services like schools and law enforcement. A bipartisan plan written by Reps. Walden, DeFazio, and Schrader is receiving a lot support around the state as fires continue to burn around Oregon, consuming too much forestland and filling our skies with smoke, Walden says it's clear that this broken system has to change. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. What are some of the things you've heard said about ethanol? That using it will damage your car's engine? That making more ethanol will make gas prices go up? How about that the ethanol industry is using up U.S. corn crops - causing food prices to increase? The ethanol industry has decided to fight back against what it deems a slander campaign against ethanol by 'Big Oil' with an advertising campaign of their own called "You're No Dummy". Growth Energy, an ethanol advocacy group, which includes supporters and producers of ethanol, says its campaign will "help Americans better understand that the oil industry is trying to stop the growth of clean, green renewable fuels to protect their own bottom lines". The advertising campaign, running on major cable news networks, in print and on radio, features an oil industry's "Mr. Slick" ventriloquist, whose dummy starts talking on his own, taking apart some of Big Oil's arguments against renewable fuels. This battle revolves around the Renewable Fuel Standard, an eight-year-old law that requires refiners to buy alternative fuels made from corn, soybeans and other products to reduce the country's dependence on foreign energy. A law that many oil groups want changed or ended all together. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.