Going Green & No Call for Alarm
Going Green & No Call for Alarm plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.
I always had a problem with the “Do as I say, not as I do” philosophy so it did my heart good to hear that the U.S. National Arboretum is "going green" with the installation of its first solar-powered drip irrigation system that will save electricity and water at the 446-acre facility operated by the Agricultural Research Service in Washington, DC. The new system is part of a long-range plan to update and improve the arboretum grounds.
OBAMA: This is obviously a cause for concern but it’s not a cause for alarm.
President Obama says the swine flu situation in this country is cause for concern, but not undue alarm and other experts seem to agree. While caution is urged, panic is not. This is after all the flu virus and many people were warning that this is only media hype. While there may some truth to that, health officials warn that is may become worse before it gets better. So far all 20
Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.
Supposedly Benjamin Franklin once stated that “Beer was proof that God loved us and wanted man to be happy”. Be that as it may, anyone who is fond of beer knows that not all beers are created equal. Perhaps someone should let InBev, the company which purchased Anheuser-Busch in on that little tidbit. Hops producers in the Northwest are finding out that the new company is more about cutting costs than retaining quality and taste; leaving farmers facing a big unknown. In the past Anheuser-Busch operated on a “built-up” hops inventory. The current company has decided they don’t need that kind of buffer and are cutting inventory to the bone. In fact the list of InBev company cutbacks and changes reads like a poster child for all the things not to do; cutting marketing expenses, firing longtime procurement reps, cutting inventory, and ingredient changes, such as using a cheaper grade of hops. InBev may just find out the hard way that taste really does matter to beer drinkers. As old Ben knew, “You don’t sell quality to purchase wealth.”
Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
