Burning Wheat, Land Swap & Adding Pork to Retaliation

Burning Wheat, Land Swap & Adding Pork to Retaliation plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. It doesn't take much during this hot, dry weather to start a wildfire and in this case it took a sizable portion of one farmer's livelihood. In a field in south Spokane County in Washington on Saturday, fire investigators believe the fire started from moving farm equipment and wound up burning around 50 acres of wheat. While response was fairly quick and farmers used tractors to plow a firebreak the conditions allowed the acreage to be lost. The quick actions saved a nearby farm home. Be careful out in those fields. Months ago the Mexican government level a number of import tariffs against the U.S. in retaliation for what they view as a NAFTA violation involving allowing Mexican trucks into the U.S. Now when we were hoping to see some advancement towards a settlement, Mexico has added pork to the list of products. Needless to say the National Pork Producers Council is disappointed and NPPC President Sam Carney we're more disappointed that the United States is not living up to its trade obligations. The U.S. Forest Service is seeking public comment on a proposed land swap with Stimson Lumber Co. that the agency says will improve recreation opportunities and wildlife habitat for elk and fish. The land swap involves the Forest Service exchanging all or some of 1,821 acres scattered in 10 parcels in Bonner County for a 922-acre parcel of private land near Hope. Forest Service officials say the 10 parcels were chosen based on their isolation from the main part of the forest, or were difficult to manage because of access. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. There's a lot to be said for good old common sense. Common sense is an asset in all walks of life and business enterprises; farming is no exception. For farmers the list of requirements to be met in order to do business providing fresh foods to schools and other institutions are generally practices that they already have in place. A sample listing of requirements that fall in part either under the mantle of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's Good Agricultural Practices or the USDA's GAP audit and certification program include assuring that farm workers wash their hands, wear clean work clothes, and adhere to general sanitation protocol, keeping crops and livestock production separate, using and maintaining clean harvesting and sorting equipment, proper chemical handling, and the protection of well or irrigation water from contamination. To the majority of farmers this list of "good agricultural practices" would already be the equivalent of the "who's who" in just plain old common sense farming, something that they have had in place from day one. Now all farmers need to do is toot their own horn and get it down on paper. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.