Making Assumptions & Victory Gardens

Making Assumptions & Victory Gardens plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and while it was a tragic event, it did help to boost and improve farming practices in the U.S. USDA Historical Expert Anne Effland said that of course the war effort pulled many young farmers away from the farms and created a huge demand for rubber and steel but also spawned Victory Gardens.

EFFLAND: To encourage producing your own vegetables and fruits in particular.

The Victory Gardens helped boost morale and even became an important part of daily life as the war continued. At the time, the USDA released a 20 minute film to help promote and train people on how to plant their Victory Gardens.

An aggressive, nationally known plumbing and sewer company has been allowing customers fears over the E. coli bacteria to help sell their services over the phone. While the company, which has not been named, does not identify themselves they do make certain references that allow people to make assumptions about their water quality. Some residents in the Portland area have shown concerns over these scare tactics and while it is not illegal, it certainly is not a good business practice.

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

Tis the season to be jolly, unless of course you happen to be a Christmas tree grower.  One doesn’t typically think of the Christmas tree business as cut throat, but the over abundance of trees this year due to over planting nearly a decade ago, plus the national recession that has most buyers leaning towards smaller, less expensive trees has prompted growers to drop their prices creating a veritable price war on Christmas trees. So, while the bad news is that the Christmas tree market is saturated this year driving prices down, the good news might very well be that more families will probably be staying closer to home for the holidays, in turn increasing the number of trees sold.  Growers learned their lesson though and have significantly cut back on tree planting over the last few years ensuring that if they can just hang on for the next couple of years the Christmas tree market will once again be in the “green”. Until then, Christmas tree growers will have to do their very best not to face this “happiest of seasons” with a “bah, humbug” attitude.

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