National Bison Day & U.S.-Panama Trade

National Bison Day & U.S.-Panama Trade. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Yesterday was the first annual National Bison Day. Several groups - including the National Bison Association - agreed earlier this year to designate the first Thursday of each November as National Bison Day. Felicia Sargeant - North Dakota Buffalo Association Executive Director - says the market for bison breeding animals has been strong.

SARGEANT: We’re maintaining a fairly high level as far as the prices. There hasn’t been any real sales yet this fall. You know this is kind of the season for sales to start happening around the United Stated and there haven’t been any yet to kind of get an idea but at this point we believe that’s going to maintain where the highs were last year.

The new U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement went into effect Wednesday eliminating tariffs and other barriers to U.S. exports to promote economic growth and expand trade between the two countries. United States Trade Representative Ambassador Ron Kirk says the partnership with Panama’s fast-growing economy adds up to support more well-paying jobs across the United States. With this agreement - half of American ag exports to Panama will become duty free - bringing an additional 2.2-billion dollars in ag exports.

Now here’s today’s Washington Grange report.

(Grange)

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