Report on Profitability Issued & Replacing Computers plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

It was a major point of contention several months back but the USDA is putting more money into a plan to replace outdated computer systems to expedite farm payments according to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack.

VILSACK: We are now in the process, systematically replacing that software. While I can’t guarantee you success in the next 2 months I can tell you that within the next year or two you’re going to see a significantly more improved turnaround time for virtually everything FSA does because they’re going to have a modern computer system which they’ve not had and in many cases they have to do calculations by hand.

The livestock sector can lead the agricultural economy to higher net farm income, assuming the farm economy benefits from a recovering general U.S. economy. That analysis tops a 2010 baseline report prepared by the University of Missouri Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute and delivered to the U.S. Congress. The 10-year baseline shows economic possibilities for livestock, crops and biofuels under certain assumptions. The report projects net farm income increases for the next two years largely because of stronger livestock prices. However 2010 farm income will recover only a third of the ground lost in 2009.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

Suppose someone bound your hands and feet, blindfolded you, then expected you to perform your job as usual. Sounds pretty impossible doesn’t it, and yet that seems to be exactly what is expected of our nation’s farmers and ranchers on a daily basis. Every day brings yet another barrage of government regulations and restrictions, with government agencies duplicating and overlapping their own laws. This action in turn opens the door even wider to environmental activists, enabling them to file lawsuits over the most minute of perceived violations. Yes, rules need to be established to protect the environment. You would be hard pressed to find a farmer or rancher who would disagree. But when environmental protection regulations become so convoluted as to resemble a Jenga puzzle the burden on America’s agricultural community becomes almost insurmountable. And like the game of Jenga, one wrong move can bring the whole thing toppling down. If agriculture is truly the backbone of this nation, why does the government seem hell bent on breaking the very backbone and spirit of the American farmer and rancher?

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.