05/13/08 Preparing for FMD & USDA Numbers

Preparing for FMD & USDA Numbers plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Foot and mouth disease has not been seen in the United States since 1929 - but USDA is preparing for an outbreak. USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Preparedness and Incident Coordinator Dr. Jon Zak says FMD is a major focus. ZAK: It is probably one of the top two challenge to animal agriculture in our country in terms of disease introduction and the fact that it affects multiple species and wildlife makes it probably the single most difficult challenge we have to deal with. The USDA has released world numbers for livestock, poultry and dairy. Total U.S. meat production in 2009 is projected to decline about 1 percent. Beef production will decline on tighter supplies of cattle. Pork production is expected to decline as producers reduce sows farrowing later this year and into next year in response to poor returns. Broiler production will be slightly higher and turkey production is forecast slightly lower. Egg production is forecast about unchanged in 2009. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. Glug, glug, glug. That's the sound I make in my car every time someone passes me like I'm standing still while I'm driving the speed limit. It's my imitation of what I imagine their vehicle sounds like sucking down gas. Plus it makes me feel better and it's a whole lot more socially acceptable than the hand gestures I could have used. Lately I've been doing my best to incorporate various gas saving techniques otherwise known as "hypermiling". This includes some basic principles such as pumping up tires to their maximum rating, setting the cruise control one mile lower than the speed limit, accelerating slowly, (that's a hard one for me!), and avoiding excessive idling. And you know what, it actually works. My husband and I incorporated all of these techniques on our recent 6 hour trip to visit our kids and found that we used half the gas as in past trips. We also found ourselves competing to see which of us could get the best gas mileage whenever we switched drivers. I have to admit my husband won that "gold medal"! Or maybe I just let him win! Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.