05/10/07 Getting Rid of Trans Fats & This Is Peanut Butter?

Getting rid of Trans Fats & This is Peanut Butter? Plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Coffee giant Starbucks announced yesterday that they are eliminating the use of artificial trans fats from their food and beverages in all their North America stores. Some products will retain small amounts from such products as butter. They hope to have the artificial trans fats removed by the end of 2007 and have begun the same process in overseas markets as well. I'm not sure I'm ready for this but the Bell Plantation in Georgia has come up with a new peanut butter without the oil. The peanut butter comes in a powder. Owner J.C. Bell explains. BELL: You take the powder and mix it with any liquid. Now what you tried was mixed with water. When you do that you have the full flavor of a very smooth, all natural peanut butter. You just have it without  well about 150 calories per serving. You can mix it with other things. Our customers mix it with everything from grape juice if they want a PB&J sandwich they just mix with a little grape juice. You know, I just might miss my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. Summer's nearly here traditionally heralding the start of baseball season and offering many a "fields of dreams" for chaps working to make it to the majors. Farmers too stand a chance at making it to the big leagues of farming this season, and it won't be illusion to actually discover ball fields in farm country surrounded by acres and acres of corn. A record number of our nation's farmers have converted crops, like soy rice and cotton into corn. The USDA reports the most acres in corn is expected to be planted since WWII, a remarkable 90.5 million. So like minor league ball players, corn will be popping up in fields in the Dakota's, Midwest, the South and the Pacific Northwest as a response to the ethanol boom. As in baseball, weather could throw farmers a curve, keeping the corn crop from becoming their home run. One thing is for certain the USDA"S estimate of 700 million more bushels than the 2004 record means a winning season for livestock producers as there should be more than enough feeder corn to go around. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.