01/28/09 Specialty crops benefit from new Ag Secretary's action

Washington Ag January 28, 2009 New USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has reversed an action taken by the Bush Administration that should be of interest to Washington specialty crop growers. Vilsack: "One of the things we have done is to withdraw a rescission which had been requested by the previous administration in a popular block grant program that provided millions of dollars of assistance to specialty crops that would promote the growth of healthy fruits and vegetables." Vilsack says if the rescission was put into effect three million dollars would have been cut from the block grant program. The Bush Administration had planned on using the three million dollars to enforce mandatory country of origin labeling. Washington's 2008 wine grape production was a record high 145-thousand tons, up 14 percent from 2007. The Washington Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service also reports that growers received a record high average price of $1030 per ton for all varieties, an increase of 76 dollars from 2007. White Riesling overtook Chardonnay as the top variety in 2008. Of the total wine grapes produced, 52 percent were white and 48 percent were red varieties. The Washington Asparagus Commission will be holding it's annual meeting on February 4th beginning at 9:00am at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, WA. The meeting will be held in the Gjerde Center. Topics to be discussed include an annual crop review, food safety, and the farm bill. The Commission business meeting will take place on the 3rd of February at Columbia Basin College beginning at 1:00pm. I'm Bob Hoff and that's Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.