Health Care Proposal & Rethinking Agriculture plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.
Rethinking agriculture in a warming climate is one of the issues that should be considered when determining a means of sustainability according to Nina Fedoroff, Science and Technology Advisor to the US Secretary of State.
FEDEROFF: Closing the nutrient loop between animals and plants. So for example integrated aquaculture and agriculture systems have been developed on land, in the oceans and in fact in desert areas using a variety of aquaculture – combinations of aquaculture and agriculture including halophyte agriculture.
President Obama has, for the first time, proposed specific legislation to overhaul the U.S. health system. According to the White House, Obama's bill represents a blending of legislation passed by the House and Senate last year. It is in effect the conference report that Democratic Senate leaders have been unable to pass since losing its 60th vote. The President's bill contains changes modifying a proposed excise tax on high-cost health insurance plans and increasing subsidies to help lower-income families afford insurance. It would also give federal regulators the power to block premium increases by private insurers. Premium oversight has been historically controlled by states.
Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray.
There's such a thing as "biting off more than you can chew". The key is in figuring out how much is too much before you take that huge bite. The federal government obviously figured out its plan for imposing a mandatory National Animal Identification System on every farmer and rancher in the nation was just too big a bite for them to swallow. But the feds may decide to shove this particular plate full off onto state governments. The plan for a national animal ID system in order to trace sources of disease outbreaks is a good one; a large majority of meat and dairy producers already have such a system in place. How to create a well working and cost effective plan for tracking every single farm and ranch animal is the conundrum. With most state government coffers being on the empty side right now where are they supposed to come up with the finances to create let alone maintain such an identification system? The USDA is promising to provide funds to states for running the new system, but as U.S. taxpayers are fully aware federal government promises tend to blow away in the breeze like so much dandelion fuzz. So far Vilsack's proposal and USDA promises have U.S. farmers and ranchers relying on a hope and a prayer.
Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
