Retail food prices at the supermarket decreased for the fifth consecutive quarter and are significantly lower than one year ago, according to the latest American Farm Bureau Federation Marketbasket Survey.

The informal survey shows the total cost of 16 food items that can be used to prepare a meal was $42.90, down $3.13 from the third quarter of 2009 and $7.31 lower or about 15 percent less compared to one year ago. Of the 16 items surveyed, 11 decreased, four increased and one remained the same in average price compared to the prior quarter.

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The United States needs to fundamentally rethink its policy of promoting ethanol to diversify its energy sources and increase energy security, according to a new policy paper by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

The paper, “Fundamentals of a Sustainable U.S. Biofuels Policy,” questions the economic, environmental and logistical basis for the billions of dollars in federal subsidies and protectionist tariffs that go to domestic ethanol producers every year.

“We need to set realistic targets for ethanol in the United States instead of just throwing taxpayer money out the window,” said Amy Myers Jaffe, one of the report’s authors.

Jaffe is a fellow in energy studies at the Baker Institute and associate director of the Rice Energy Program.

As an example of the unintended economic consequences of U.S. biofuels policy, the report notes that in 2008 “the U.S. government spent $4 billion in biofuels subsidies to replace roughly 2 percent of the U.S. gasoline supply. The average cost to the taxpayer of those ’substituted’ barrels of gasoline was roughly $82 a barrel, or $1.95 per gallon on top of the retail gasoline price (i.e., what consumers pay at the pump).” The report questions whether mandated volumes for biofuels can be met and whether biofuels are improving the environment or energy security.

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The Nebraska Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that it  is working with South Dakota officials who Tuesday announced the finding of a bovine tuberculosis-positive cow in a southeast South Dakota cattle herd. 

State Agriculture Director Greg Ibach said Nebraska officials have been asked for information and assistance associated with the South Dakota Animal Industry Board’s epidemiological investigation of the TB-positive cow.

Nebraska was contacted as South Dakota officials begin to trace the movement of cattle into and out of the affected herd.

“At this point we anticipate the need for epidemiological work that will include the quarantine and testing of cattle in Nebraska,” Ibach said.  “Preliminary trace work has us focused on the northern part of the state.  At this point, we have no information to indicate the South Dakota case is connected to our ongoing TB investigation in Rock County.”

Information about bovine TB can be found on the NDA web site at www.agr.ne.gov, under the bovine TB button on the right side of the home page.

Nebraska senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns has expressed disappointment with Taiwan  failure to properly implement a planned expansion of the US-Taiwan beef trade. 

Nelson has sent a letter to the Representative of Taiwan to the U.S., Jason Yuan, expressing disappointment with Taiwan’s action. According to Nelson, Taiwan’s legislative body, the Legislative Yuan, voted this week to bar certain U.S. beef products in an apparent breach,Nelson said, of a US-Taiwan beef import protocol reached earlier this fall. 

 “I am greatly concerned by Taiwan’s commitment to fair trade of U.S. beef,” said Senator Nelson in the letter. “These actions by your government will impair Taiwan’s credibility and reputation as a reliable trading partner.”

 A strong advocate for the ending of Taiwan’s trade restrictions on U.S. beef, Nelson met with Yuan in both July and September of 2009 to discuss opening up more of Taiwan’s market to Nebraska beef producers.  The decision, he said, of the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan will restrict imports of ground beef and other ground beef products that had been allowed in the protocol.

Johanns said the ban partially reverses an agreement negotiated by the U.S. and Taiwan only two months ago.

“This is an unfortunate and unnecessary setback in our relations with Taiwan,” he said. ”I am disappointed that they are reversing their position on an agreement we just signed and I will work with the Obama Administration to resolve this important issue for Nebraska and other beef-producing states.”

 Johanns also sent a letter to Taiwanese officials urging them “to rely on science-based international standards when making trade decisions … and to communicate [Senator Johanns'] concerns to the appropriate representatives in [Taiwan's legislature].”

Johanns’ letter also highlighted how the U.S. government “has spent years developing and implementing a multilayered system of interlocking safeguards to provide for the safety of American beef.”

Lastly, Johanns wrote, any such action “would hinder years of effort to reach agreement to further open markets.”