Early Spring Planting & Don't Blame Farmers

Early Spring Planting & Don't Blame Farmers plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. When you are the grocery store and you see higher food prices it's easy to blame the one who produces that food. But one agricultural analyst, John Urbanchuk says don't blame farmers for food price hikes. URBANCHUK: The farm share of retail food prices is not only small it's also declining. Labor, packaging, transportation, energy directly used, advertising, depreciation and interest – all of that stuff makes up the other part of it. Buds are swelling on fruit trees, tulips are emerging from flower gardens, maple trees are blooming and grasses are greening across the Pacific Northwest because of an El Nino climate pattern that has pushed storms south and kept temperatures mild. In orchards and fields across the Mid-Columbia, those who make their living from the land are watching thermometers and short- and long-range weather forecasts with some anxiety. With nighttime low temperatures staying at or above freezing and daytime highs reaching into the mid-50s, Mother Nature is responding to the call of an early spring. And that has increased the potential destruction a hard frost could wreak on orchards and fields. An early spring lengthens the frost season -- which can extend until late April -- and also could increase potential costs for farmers and orchardists in trying to protect their plants and trees. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. Enjoy your hot dogs original shape while you can, if a certain group of physicians get their way the shape of the hot dog may very soon be flat and square. The choking hazard of certain foods for children has long been a concern of parents, myself included, but the logical course of action to take in that instance is too avoid those foods until the child is of a certain age, or mash, chop or otherwise change the consistency of risk imposing foods. The push by this leading group of U.S. pediatricians for a redesign regarding the shape of hot dogs, candies and certain snack foods appears to be one more instance of extreme food policing aimed at food manufacturers. What food manufacturers and health professionals do agree upon is the proposition of mandatory food warning labels to educate consumers on choking risks, which makes much more sense than attempting to change product shapes when you consider the mere fact that several of the foods listed as a possible choking risk have their shapes predestined by Mother Nature, such as grapes, peanuts and other nuts. Bottom line, parents and child care givers need to own up to what should be their number one priority and that's keeping kids safe. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.