Expect Dairy Rebound & Unemployment Rate Drop

Expect Dairy Rebound & Unemployment Rate Drop plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

In last week’s supply/demand reports - USDA said stronger world dairy prices and a weak U.S. dollar are expected to increase export demand for U.S. dairy products. Exports of beef, pork and dairy products have all suffered due to the worldwide recession. But Margaret Speich at the U.S. Dairy Export Council says there has been a slight but steady improvement in dairy exports since last February.

SPEICH: For example our latest data which was released in July showed that our exports in milk powder that month were the highest posted this year. Our cheese exports in July were the most since last October so we are seeing some gradual improvement.

Oregon's unemployment rate dropped in September but so did the number of people who have jobs. The state Employment Department says the jobless rate fell to 11.5 percent last month from the revised August figure of 12 percent. There were fewer unemployed because many jobless adults went back to school or simply gave up looking for jobs. Meanwhile, Oregon's total nonfarm payroll employment dropped by 10,300 jobs in September.

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

It’s looking like ninety five percent of the sugar beet growers in the United States are soon to be pinned between a rock and a hard place. Due to a lawsuit filed by an Oregon organic beet farmer against the use of genetically engineered beets in his area. The genetically modified beet seeds were developed to tolerate Roundup herbicide helping growers kill weeds without killing their crop. Studies have shown that the sugar from the genetically modified sugar beets is identical to the sugar from other comparable sugar beets. Does the organic beet farmer have the right to grow and sell his organic beets? Of course. Does his right to grow organic beets outweigh the rights of the majority of growers who use genetically engineered beet seed? That’s a decision for the courts to decide. Depending on which way the judge’s decision swings could spell disaster for either side. One thing is certain; I wouldn’t want to be the one wielding that gavel come judgment day for the sugar beet industry, and I wonder how one organic beet grower in Oregon will feel when the beets fall where they may?

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