Ag Census Underway & Block On Farm Bill

Ag Census Underway & Block On Farm Bill plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Former Reagan USDA Secretary John Block does not see a farm bill rewrite happening until summer and likely with deeper cuts and more political damage. Block says there are just too many things in the air to get the farm bill rewrite done anytime soon.

BLOCK: In my judgement, they won’t do anything probably until the summer and then they’ll write a new farm bill and I think probably they will write one this year. I guess I’m not absolutely sure but I think they’ll get it done.

Report forms for the 2012 Census of Agriculture should arrive in mailboxes any day now, if they haven’t already. The census is conducted every 5 years and is more than just a count of U.S. farms and the people who operate them. It is a look at land use and ownership, production practices, expenditures, and other things that affect the way farmers do business in the 21st century. Federal law requires all agricultural producers to participate in the Census and completed forms are due by February 4, 2013.

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

If the thought of air travel makes you cringe, whether because of the long lines through airport security or possible flight delays, you might want to take into consideration how fortunate we really are today, time wise that is, in comparison to how our ancestors had to travel. You don’t have to go very far back in our nation’s history to find a time when people had to schedule days, weeks or even months for travel time to and from their destination. In the late 1800’s it would take someone nearly a month to go from the east coast to the west coast by train, a trip that takes a person a day now by air travel. By the time the 1930’s rolled around a trip across country from Seattle to New York took a little under a week by train. Air travel was still quite new, and while one could travel across country in less time by plane, most people still preferred to go by train. Of course the thought of taking a long, perhaps even boring, trip across country does seem rather appealing. Nice thing is, today we have the choice of whether we want to take our time getting somewhere, or getting there in a hurry. Now we just have to figure out how to make our modes of transportation “greener”.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’ll will be traveling to Las Vegas for the Potato Expo the rest of the week. KayDee Gilkey will be filling in on the Northwest Report for a few days. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.