H1N1 Pig Case Confirmed & Leaving it Alone

H1N1 Pig Case Confirmed & Leaving it Alone plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

USDA has confirmed H1N1 influenza in a Minnesota fair pig sample. More testing is being done and the USDA is urging pork producers to maintain good bio-security in their herds. There is some concern that this finding will again cause misunderstanding with the public and Ag Secretary Vilsack reiterates what he has said many times before.

VILSACK: People can not get infected with the 2009 pandemic H1N1 from eating pork or pork products.

Federal drug agents won't pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued by the Obama administration. Prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law. The guidelines to be issued by the department do, however, make it clear that agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes.

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

A recent competition held in Vancouver addressing the need for greener development in the quest to reduce carbon emissions was won by Romses Architects for their vertical farm design. At first glance it seems a dream come true in utmost green design, with not only food and energy harvesting capabilities, but a proposed area for use as residential, business and retail facilities as well. There in lies the sticky wicket. While attractive in its architectural design, it doesn’t appear to be practical, with the livestock areas located above the organic foods market and adjacent to the education center. Anyone familiar with livestock or poultry farms knows that they have their own very definite bouquet. Bottom line though, vertical farming for crops is probably in humanity’s not too distant future, as the world’s population increases by the thousands daily. This is just one of many vertical farm designs that will probably be used as a collaborative guide for what will eventually be a truly “green”, ethical, practical and functional environmental farm. 

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