11/8/06 Trans Fat Out & Soybean Use

Trans fats out & Soybean Use. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. In case you haven`t heard - Burger King is following in the footsteps of Kentucky Fried Chicken - announcing plans to test cooking oils without trans fats in some of its restaurants in the coming months. According to North America President Chuck Fallon - the fast food restaurant has been looking for an alternative to trans fat for the last two years. He did not say which alternatives the company may use. Kentucky Fried Chicken announced plans to switch to low-linolenic soybean oil a week ago. U.S. soybean farmers are on track to harvest more than 2.9-billion bushels of soybeans this fall. So, where will all those soybeans end up? Animal feed is the number one use - and soy biodiesel is growing as well. But it's also exciting to see new soy-based industrial products entering the marketplace. In fact, Todd Allen - an Arkansas soybean farmer and Chair of the United Soybean Board New Uses Committee - reports that last year alone - the Soybean Checkoff was able to commercialize 19 new uses for soybeans. ALLEN: We had electric transformer fluid we introduced last year. It was a joint project between Cargill and Cooper Power Systems. Cargill manufactures the fluid and Cooper Power Systems puts it in the transformers and so that has been a great success for us and many of the rural cooperatives or electric cooperatives are looking at using this fluid in their transformers. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. With all the hype about ethanol powered fuels with all the hoop-la over how bio fuel will revolutionize farming communities there is one segment of agriculture that remains skeptical, and for a good reason. The livestock industry, notably beef and pork are dependant on corn to feed their animals and could be seriously impacted if ethanol ever becomes as mainstream as predicated. Cattle feeders in particular are frowning on the effects that ethanol production has already had on the price of feeder corn. Corn prices are still high despite a boomer crop, and when coupled with the .51 cent a gallon government subsidies it doesn't bode well to be a cattle feeder competing with ethanol. In fact Biodiesel could forever change the relationship between feeder calves and corn prices. Troy Marshall in a recent article in BEEF cow calf weekly stated that "it will be intriguing to see how the cow-calf segment adjust it's nutritional program" . Midwest cattlemen would say it is down right frightening, as they scramble to find with ethanol by products and other crops as a cost effective replacement feed. Meanwhile Brazil and China's beef industry continues to grow timed ironically with the uncertain future of US beef. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.