Export Seminar & Bird Flu

Thursday May 2nd, 2013 57 Views Fruit Grower Report

Export Seminar & Bird Flu plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

If you are a food and agriculture businesses interested in exporting to China the Oregon Department of Agriculture is hosting a half day seminar and panel discussion next month on the topic. The seminar and panel discussion, “China: A New Frontier for Oregon Agriculture”, features three experts in the Chinese market who will highlight trends and successful market strategies. The seminar is scheduled for Friday, May 17.

And speaking of China, U.S. feed grain demand is only expected to see a slight slowdown as a result of the China bird flu outbreak. U.S. Grains Council Manager of Global Trade Kevin Roepke says Chinese consumers have turned away from poultry as indicated by the 20-percent drop in Yum Brands first quarter chicken sales. However - the company and the Council believe that trend will be short lived since the bird flu is not a pandemic.

ROEPKE: Worse case scenario I see maybe a temporary dip with no significant longterm effects. It’ll quietly go away. Chinese officials seem to be doing a lot to try and control the circulation.

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

Hummus is quickly become the “sweetheart” of the health conscious snacker. No longer just a party dish for the elite, hummus is a chickpea dip that is high in protein and low in fat and just tastes darn good. My husband and I discovered hummus several years back and got to the point where we were making large batches of the dip ourselves. Back then when we mentioned that we loved hummus most people would give us a rather vacant stare, and ask us “what exactly is hummus”. Now even our five year old grandson sings the praises of hummus. The Pacific Northwest is the primary growing region for chickpeas in the U.S., but farmers on the east coast are looking to replace their tobacco crops with chickpeas. USDA reported that the total U.S. chickpea crop last year was up fifty-one percent from the previous year. That in and of itself speaks volumes about consumer demand for the crop, and I for one would love to see tobacco crops replaced with something healthy like chickpeas. So when you’re looking for something to snack on think outside of the box, think fresh veggies and garlic hummus, or red pepper hummus, or basil pesto hummus - well you get the idea. Now, go get some hummus.

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