Russian Threat & Christmas Tree Sales in Question

Russian Threat & Christmas Tree Sales in Question plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Last year the sales of both real and plastic trees from China were off. Initially the decline in real tree sales was attributed to sales of fake trees but last year those sales were down 35% as well and that left people scratching their heads. Will the economy be the Grinch that stole Christmas from the nation's Christmas tree farmers this year? Jeff Holt is the co-owner of a “choose and cut” tree farm.

HOLT: What we noticed last year was like that first week in December was very good and normal but after that it just completely died off.

Russian officials are hinting they are about to close their swinging doors to pork imports from the United States. Russia wants Washington to comply with its quality standards and agree on meat safety certification. Sergei Dankvert, head of Russia's National Meat Association, told Reuters U.S. exporters are generally not meeting Russian specifications. He is quoted as saying, USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service - has said it would not observe Russian food safety standards.

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

Okay, for the record, they no longer refer to it as “Global Warming”; it’s now “Climate Change”. I imagine they, (they: as in the ones who can’t predict the weather correctly from day to day but are predicting with what they declare is “beyond a shadow of a doubt accuracy” that due to human activity the ice caps are melting while we’re freezing and the world will end soon), they were tired of the question, “If global warming is for real why are we so COLD?” Wish I had the answer. Environmentalists will tell you burning fossil fuels and methane from agricultural activities will double greenhouse gases in the next century. But do CO2 fluctuations precede or follow global temperature changes?  We do know the world’s climate is constantly changing, has been since the time of the dinosaurs, when it was much warmer, and the Ice Age, when it was much, much colder. Agriculture would be one of the businesses most affected by global warming, by precipitating longer growing seasons, and enriching of the atmosphere with CO2 would fertilize plants and make for more vigorous growth. Even Al Gore has admitted that each time the earth’s ice retreated throughout history people grew more culturally advanced and prosperous.

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