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Press Release Archives 2005

 REPORT ON FARM BROADCASTERS CONVENTION

  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 15, 2005

Press Release #4

Vice President of Communications
Ed Fashing
2898 Audrain Road 114
Sturgeon, MO 65284-2023
emfashing@socket.net

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REPORT ON FARM BROADCASTERS CONVENTION

After the delegates meeting at the Clarion Motel at KCI, several members attended the Annual Farm Broadcasters’ Convention in at the Kansas City Crown Center. Buddy Vance, Joyce Jobgen, Wayne Allen, Don Jobgen, Larry Matlack, and Ed Fashing, were at the convention. Over 20 interviews with the farm press were given and the results were beyond our expectations. A series of positions papers were given to numerous broadcasters and personalities that stopped by. The booth was visited by John Block, former USDA secretary, Dave Fredrickson, President of National Farmers Union, Baxter Black, the cowboy poet, and many others. Interviews were conducted by the National farm Broadcasters Publicity Department, the Voice of America, USDA’s Radio, many large farm networks, and small individual farm radio stations from around the U.S.

Many of the interviews were made with Larry Matlack from Kansas, who spoke of his idea of reducing the dependence on foreign energy, increasing farm income, reducing farm program costs, reducing energy-production pollution, and increasing rural jobs and income.

The farm sector has become aware of the impact of ethanol, biodiesel, and wind energy on reducing America’s fossil fuel energy dependence. However the possibility of using agricultural biomass to replace usage of: natural gas, propane, fuel oil has been largely overlooked.

While the new use of ethanol and biodiesel may someday benefit rural America by a billion dollars per year, the use of excess agricultural biomass could increase farm income by ten to twenty billion dollars per year due to the high cost of fossil fuels. The only need is to assure the biomass industry’s growth is a temporary federal price insurance against an unforeseen temporary dramatic drop in the price of fossil fuels until the biomass industry gets started.

With the tumultuous world energy situation a possible great variation in energy prices appears in the near future. Since energy usage is often very short term, longer term stability for agricultural biomass is needed. In many areas of the U.S., agricultural biomass can economically heat factories, schools, homes, churches, grain bins, and farms. Excess agricultural biomass can produce electricity, heat, or steam for many rural or urban uses.

#30

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The American Agriculture Movement, Inc. is the farmer/rancher organization that sponsored the 1979 tractorcade and protests that brought 50,000 farmers and 5,000 tractors to Washington D.C. in 1978 and 1979 to protest the FARM CRISIS. AAM stands for food producer and commodity PARITY. Parity is a term that denotes a fair commodity price adjusted for inflation to the commodity prices brought in 1910-1914 when producer-middlemen-consumer had a balanced income. Today, 15 commodities average 35% of PARITY. Meanwhile costs of trucks, combines, implements, tractors, and help rose many times. AAM still demands a parity price increase for commodities. Go to AAM's website: http://www.aaminc.org/ for more information.

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