Panama Free Trade & Cutting the Budget

Panama Free Trade & Cutting the Budget

Panama Free Trade & Cutting the Budget plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus went head to head with the Obama Administration over its delay in sending the Panama Free Trade deal - one of three FTAs signed over a year ago - to Congress. Baucus and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley argue the deal will level the playing field with Panama - whose average tariffs on U.S. ag products is 43-percent - versus zero by the U.S. on most of Panama’s goods. The deal could add 20-cents a head to U.S. hog value - phasing out all pork tariffs in 15 years. Baucus points out that Panama has agreed to U.S. labor and environmental conditions and to work on sharing tax information on U.S. firms trying to shelter income in the country.

BAUCUS: What I understand to be the agreement now it’s a major advance compared to what the state of play was back then just not too long ago, a month ago, and man I don’t understand why they don’t take it.

The Idaho Department of Correction is cutting 38 positions this summer and taking other steps to save about $4.7 million. The job cuts will save about $2 million, and requiring remaining workers to take four to 10 days off without pay will save another $2 million. The rest of the money will come from miscellaneous savings.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

The majority of the non farm community is often given a jaded view of farming. They are lambasted daily with images and articles denoting the ag industry as a corporate giant of factory farms. While yes, there are factory farms out there, the true face of the farm community is much more personal and diverse. It is the face of families, many who are farming land that has been in their family for generations.  They spend their lives tending to the crops and animals that in turn feed our nation and other nations around the world. Farmers for the Future members have created an on-line photographic scrapbook in order to share what they do daily on their farms and ranches with the non farm community. Not only do these images act as an educational tool for those unfamiliar with the inner workings of farming and ranching, but they reveal the heart and soul and life’s blood that these people pour daily into their work. Our nation’s agricultural industry does indeed have a face; it is the face of families who work hard and are proud of what they do.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

 

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