Eliminating state boards and commissions
Washington Ag Today Governor Chris Gregoire has signed an executive order eliminating 17 state boards and commissions and will introduce legislation to eliminate an additional 78. Among the entities that would be eliminated by proposed legislation are the Agricultural Burning Practices and Research Task Force, the Fairs Commission, the Livestock Identification Advisory Board, the Pesticide Advisory Board and the Pesticide Incident Reporting and Tracking Review Panel. The governor has also proposed moving the Emergency Food Assistance Program from the Department of Commerce to the Department of Agriculture. ? When asked to compare apples to apples - consumers said they would pay more for locally grown apples than genetically modified (GMO) apples. But in a second questionnaire - consumers preferred GMO apples. That’s when they were described - not as GMO - but as having a Reduced Environmental Impact. University of Illinois economist Michael Mazzocco was involved in the research demonstrating that product labeling makes a difference when it comes to consumer acceptance. Mazzocco: “Conveying the benefits of the genetic modification. Conveying the benefits of the cloning is something that the consumers can get their arms around. It is tangible. The benefit here is that you are having fewer fungicides sprays around your neighborhood, in the waterways, those sorts of things, in order to enable locally grown apples.” Mazzocco says what it boils down to is that people will pay more for reduced environmental impact. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
