Fire Management Strategy & Preparing For Blight
Fire Management Strategy & Preparing For Blight plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.
The Obama Administration, yesterday, released the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. This strategy, developed by federal, state, tribal and local community partners, and public stakeholders, outlines new approaches to coordinate and integrate efforts to restore and maintain healthy landscapes, prepare communities for fire season, and better address the nation's wild land fire threats. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.
JEWELL: The strategy is a result of an on-going partnership that's providing us with a strategic roadmap for how we work together. That's across federal, tribal, state and local governments and with our NGO partners to effectively manage landscape. With wild land fire seasons becoming longer and more intense, we can't follow the status quo when it comes to budgets.
Oregon State University researchers have proven the effectiveness of two organic alternatives for controlling a disease that can wipe out entire apple and pear orchards.
Scientists found that spraying a yeast-based product and new water-soluble copper products at the beginning of the growing season provided protection from the bacterial disease. The findings come as organic growers prepare for a probable ban on two antibiotics previously allowed by the National Organics Standards Board.
Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray.
The "better safe than sorry" approach to policymaking and regulation, otherwise known as the "Precautionary Principle" is an often controversial risk management strategy that was developed to cope with possible risks when scientific understanding is still incomplete. Such policymaking has been a standard practice in Europe for years and it seems to be catching on like wildfire in the U.S.. The ever increasing uproar over genetically modified foods and antibiotic use in animal ag production are two of the main reasons behind its growing popularity here in the states. Many experts warn however that the burden of proof for companies that have to function under this type of regulating is so incredibly high that many choose to stop developing new products. This raises a very important question. Does the precautionary method of policymaking do more harm than good? Speakers at the National Institute for Animal Agriculture's 2014 Annual Conference were unanimous in stating that an overabundance of precaution can impede innovation and stifle progress. They also stressed that sustainability should be the driving force behind decision making, not the "better safe than sorry" approach to policymaking.
Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
