The Wall Street Journal reported recently that alternative energy ideas are attracting the same cast of characters that brought us the computer and internet technology boom in the late 1990's. This group calls their new market-driven niche "clean technology" as opposed to "green technology" which is more political in nature. Stock market analysts have noted that the stock market is going to need a new technological "big idea" to drive it out of its current doldrums. This could be it. Wind leases for wind-powered turbines are already becoming a rapidly growing source of revenue for High Plains cattle ranchers.

Hedge funds are jumping into agricultural commodities in a big way and are driving up prices of both grain and cattle. Cattle-Fax said a record amount of money is pouring into cattle futures. Live cattle volume and open interest are posting new record highs and futures contracts are trading at the highest level since the fall of 2003. The Wall Street Journal said that hedge funds are now moving into buying grain elevators so that they can buy and store the actual commodity. In this way they could possibly manipulate grain prices to their advantage with less regulatory oversight than with pure paper trades. The Journal said hedge funds may soon start buying ethanol plants and actual farms. Hedge funds have increasingly diversified into commodities because they are seeking investments that do not move in concert with stocks and bonds.

In an ironic twist of science, CLA and other naturally occurring trans fats are being caught up in the anti artificial trans fat hysteria. The intended focus on artificial trans fats was centered on the industrial kind created by partial hydrogenation but the FDA is making no distinctions between healthy trans fats like CLA and artificial trans fats and bakery products made with over a half a gram of trans fat cannot be advertised as trans fat free. Starbucks coffee company has asked all of its suppliers to comply with the new trans fat guidelines. According to The New York Times, one bakery supplier of Starbucks found that its all-butter pastries had as much as 0.79 grams of trans-fat per serving. "This is an important issue because anything made with animal fats will have trans fats and make it impossible to claim trans fat free," Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University told The Times. "Milk has trans fat, and you can see the mess this is going to cause." The end result is that bakeries that supply Starbucks are replacing butter with artificial margarine. Luckily meat products are not under the FDA’s purview, but meat producers still need to be concerned. Two ounces of ground beef would exceed the FDA trans fat guideline.

The value of grass gain is rising with the price of corn. Cattle-Fax said that grazing rates in the Flint Hills of Kansas are likely to be up by some $20 a head to $80 a head for the mid-April to mid-July high gain season. However, even with these higher rates costs of gain per pounds are expected to only be around 35 cents compared to over 80 cents for feedlot gains. Gains in the Flint Hills in the high gain season are in the 2.5 lb per day range. In reversal of the last few years, the big demand now is for very heavy feeder cattle in the 800 lb plus range. Feedlot placements since last fall are down 23% compared to 2006 due to cattle staying on grass longer.

Warm season, tropical grasses aren’t typically thought of as good finishing grasses but the University of Hawaii recently completed a one-year study on grass-finishing 13 Angus steers on tropical Kikuyu grass with only a five percent legume component with good results. The steers gained 1.73 pounds per day post-weaning and 1.93 on a weight per day of age basis. The average age at harvest was 20.9 months with an average carcass weight of 701.9 pounds. One steer graded Prime, nine Low Choice and three Select. No stored feeds, grains or silage was used.

Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia, was named to Fast Company Magazine’s Fast 50 in its March issue. The Fast 50 are people and companies who are "out to address the planet’s woes and make money at the same time" according the magazine’s editor. The magazine lauded Joel’s efforts in teaching other farmers how to replicate his success. Polyface Farm currently serves 1000 customers and 30 restaurants with a full range of grassfed meats and eggs.