Pending Deals & Consumer Prices Fall

Pending Deals & Consumer Prices Fall plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Three U.S. free trade deals pending since 2008 got little boost from the Obama Administration at USDA's Annual Ag Outlook Forum this week. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk stressed President Obama's goal of doubling U.S. exports over five-years - but told hundreds of farm leaders in D.C. the focus will be on getting trading partners to comply with existing agreements and to end non-tariff trade barriers - like those after H1N1. As for long-pending free trade deals key for agriculture... KIRK: The Korean, Panamanian and Columbian trade agreements have potentially a billion dollar market for our agricultural exports if we can get those issues addressed and put them in a shape that President Obama can submit them to Congress. Consumer prices rose less than expected in January while prices excluding food and energy actually fell, something that hasn't happened in more than a quarter-century. The Labor Department said Friday that consumer prices edged up 0.2 percent in January while prices excluding food and energy slipped 0.1 percent. That was the first monthly decline since December 1982. Food prices rose a moderate 0.2 percent even though fruit and vegetable costs jumped by 1.3 percent. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. They say prior to settlement of the Pacific Northwest ten million salmon made their way up the Columbia and Snake rivers in order to spawn. Now they say due to dams in the region spawning salmon have been reduced to ten thousand. We're also talking about a period of time spanning more than one hundred and seventy years. A lot has changed in that amount of time. Buffalo as well as wild horses used to roam the plains by the thousands; humans and animals alike were able to traverse the countryside without being hindered by fences. Should we remove all fences along with the dams? How about removing all power lines, train tracks, freeways, and airports; all of these have been cited as culprits in as far as endangering wildlife populations. Probably not a practical line of action, any more than the removal of all dams. Water from these rivers doesn't only support salmon, it provides an elaborate irrigation system for over 240,000 acres of farmland and wildlife preserves along with inexpensive power to rural and urban populations. There has to be a solution that will save the dams and the salmon, but I'm darned if I can come up with one. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.