12/13/06 Keenum Confirmation & Corn Ethanol Demand

Keenum confirmation and corn ethanol demand. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. In one of its final actions of the 109th Congress - the U.S. Senate confirmed Mark Keenum as Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services. Keenum got his start in government in Mississippi. According to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns - Keenum has a reputation as an honest - hard-working and insightful person. Johanns says those qualities will serve him well in his new role - as he oversees our domestic farm support programs and our global efforts relating to agricultural trade. Corn ethanol demand continues to drive corn prices higher - further fueling concern over food versus ethanol use - and reducing the need for subsidies in the next farm bill. USDA's latest supply and demand numbers show a steady U.S. corn production forecast as just over 10.7-billion bushels. But World Ag Outlook Board Chair Gerald Bange says corn use for ethanol is keeping supplies tight - and prices up. BANGE: We're looking at ending stocks of 935 million bushels so we're seeing a decrease in our stocks of over 50 percent in one year. Hence we're looking at a price of $3.10 this year versus $2 last year. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. For those of you lucky enough to be spending the holidays skiing in, Sun Valley, beware, there are scrooges out there who would like nothing better then to put a damper on your vacation by making you feel even more guilty for that $120 lift ticket. Colorado Wild an environmental group seems intent on alerting consumers to the fact that Sun Valley received a "big D" on their environmental report card. Naturally the Sun Valley brass disputed their grade saying that that the environmental group had flawed methodology and citing the fact that unlike other ski areas, this famous resort has resisted developing most of it's 2,600 acres. It seems Sun Valley was faulted for not ratifying the "Sustainable Slopes" program that even the industry's trade group, The National Ski Areas Association endorses. Meanwhile Northwest resorts like Bogus Basin and Mount Bachelor received strong A's while Jackson Hole, Aspen and Grand Targee received strong B's. So you skiers flying down Baldy knee deep in powder, I just know you are feeling the pain of that environmental D. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.