05/16/08 Bush will veto farm bill anyway; GAP training for Washington spud growers

Farm and Ranch May 16, 2008 The U.S House on Wednesday and the U.S. Senate Thursday, passed a new five-year farm bill with more than enough votes to override a presidential veto. Even so, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer says the President will veto the bill and he encouraged lawmakers to support Bush's stand for fiscal discipline and the best interest's of America's farmers and ranchers. Schafer described the legislation passed by Congress as trade distorting, lacking meaningful reform to the adjusted gross income limit, beneficial interest or the international food aid program. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson says that in anticipation of a veto, Congress extended the 2002 Farm Bill another week, to next Friday. Peterson: "We expect the enrollment will be done and the bill will be on the White House on the 20th, Tuesday. They issued a veto threat before they even knew what was in the agreement. So I assume if we send this down they will veto it immediately and sent it back to us which gives us plenty of time to override the veto before we leave for the Memorial recess. So I felt it was best to keep the pressure on, get this over with, so we did a unanimous consent to extend for one week." A coalition of 557 organizations, from commodity groups to consumer, conservation and nutrition and religious organizations, had written the full House and Senate requesting enough votes for the farm bill conference report to override a presidential veto. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network. Farm and Ranch May 16, 2008 The Washington State Potato Commission is hosting a review session of USDA's GAP, or Good Agricultural Practices, audit training for potato growers. That session will be June 17th at 9:30 a.m. at Reichert's Theater in Othello. Chuck Dragoo with the Washington State Department of Agriculture explains what GAP is about. Dragoo: "Most of the big retailers are using this for assurance to customers that there are measures in place to minimize microbial contamination risk on the product. I don't think that there is anything we can do to eliminate it, but it shows they have measures in place to minimize the risk of the product being handled or shipped." Dragoo says the June 17th session will review the audit checklist and cover any new changes. He says in the past audits were good for one year from the time of the original audit but there is a major change. Dragoo: "What they have done is they have implemented an unannounced visit, which the auditors will come back out depending on the length of their operation and possibly could do unannounced visits to verify they still have their procedures in place to minimize the risk for microbial contamination." The Washington Potato Commission will also be mailing out Gap notebooks to potato growing entities. That's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report. Brought to you in part by the Washington State Potato Commission. Nutrition today! Good health tomorrow! I'm Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network.