07/27/06 Abuse of Disaster Aide

Every industry has it's scandals and agriculture is no exception . The illegal trading of a powdery white substance tipped off an a investigative reporter for the Washington Post who uncovered abuse of a USDA plan to help drought stricken ranchers in the plains states. The powdery substance was, powdered milk, destined for cattle feed that was diverted to create a new secondary market enabling middle men and even the very ranchers it was designed to help to profit at the expense of taxpayers. The USDA thought they had a come up with a "win win" disaster relief plan, one that would benefit milk producer and ranchers by using the surplus of powdered milk as cattle feed. The Post reporter discovered that some states ordered more milk then ranchers could use and auctioned the surplus. Powdered milk became a hot commodity in a global market and now the USDA has now wizened up and included restrictions on feed dealers and stringent prohibitions on exports in efforts to thwart abuse of disaster aide.