Pushing Reform & Less Veggies

Pushing Reform & Less Veggies plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Growing up we have all been told to eat our vegetables. But according to a new report it appears that fewer average Americans are getting their veggies. There was a slight gain overall but that came from canned vegetables like pickles and tomato products. USDA's Gary Lucier explains. LUCIER: Generally vegetable use has gone down in the last couple of years and that's because of the lack of demand particularly in the food service sector where vegetables probably carved out at least probably 30% of their demand or more is probably in the food service sector. Some bad weather has caused some higher fresh prices but demand is still down. When President Obama urged Congress on Friday to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, he said inaction would lead to - misguided efforts and irresponsibility - by others. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is also pushing for action. He's vaulted the issue to the top of Congress's spring agenda, saying the Senate could take up immigration legislation before it considers an energy bill. The President also criticized a measure passed by the Arizona state legislature and signed by Governor Jan Brewer that allows local police to question people on suspicion of being in the country illegally. Mr. Obama said the measure - threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. Quite a while back there was a quick one minute program on one of the local radio stations titled "What Were They Thinking", and as you might surmise from the title it focused on the ridiculous and downright idiotic things people do sometimes. If this program was still airing I'm sure the National 4-H organization would be front and center for their most recent act of inviting the Humane Society of the United States to lead a session at the 2010 National 4-H conference. As most people are aware 4-H groups on state and local levels have had livestock care and production as one of their primary components from their onset. So why would National 4-H invite an organization like the HSUS who have made it quite clear that they are strongly opposed to animal agriculture of any kind to the conference? A good question for which there appears to be no good answer. In fact, National 4-H has yet to offer up any apologies or sound reasons for such an outrageous choice; a choice that was insulting to the 4-H program. Whether it was a pathetic concession to the anti-meat politics that abound in D.C. or just very poor judgment on their part we may never know. We're just left to wonder what they could have possibly been thinking. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.