10/20/08 No Doha Deal & Food Prices Still Rising

No Doha Deal & Food Prices Still Rising plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy has now conceded the Doha Round of world trade talks can not be concluded this year. He does believe - however - that a concensus can be reached on a framework for the agreement. According to Lamy - the collective commitment to the round remains strong. The new Consumer Price Index, showing prices for September, shows food prices rising faster that almost all other items in the economy, but the worst of it may be coming to an end. Ephriam Leibtag, USDA economist, says that his current forecasts for food price inflation this year and next may not change very much, even with the current reduction in farm commodity prices. LEIBTAG: My guess is we're not going to see a major change in the forecast at this point. Right now the overall food inflation is set to end up somewhere around 5 ½ to 6% for this year and we're still projecting 4 to 5% next year and the real questions becomes, are these dips in commodity prices we've seen I the last month long term? How long will this economy weakening last and will that have a direct impact on commodity or could commodity be something that starts to rebound early in terms of the overall economy and could the general factors we've been talking about in terms of inflationary pressure come back sooner? Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. The debate over genetically modified crops continues to rage, with a "you're either for us or against us" type demeanor. And while it is reasonable to express concern over what we are eating with GM foods, it is unreasonable and practically archaic to state that GM foods are morally and ethically wrong. We would do well to remember that crops conventionally bred to resist disease were introduced with chromosome fragments from a non domesticated relative; resulting in the introduction of hundreds of unknown genes. At least with GM foods we know what new genetic material is being introduced. Down through history the unknown and different has often been met with suspicion and rejection. "If man were meant to fly, he would have wings." "No one will ever install a telephone in their home." Face it, if mankind had always listened to the negative propaganda towards new technology, we would all still be shivering in the dark. Responsible scientific monitoring and stewardship of genetically modified crops will bring mankind to the realization that these crops can actually enhance our quality of life. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.