Vilsack In Oregon & Lower Gas Prices Expected

Vilsack In Oregon & Lower Gas Prices Expected plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Portland on Friday to talk about rural job creation and to highlight revitalization opportunities available to rural Oregon communities and businesses. VILSACK: We want to let people know that we have actually put into place what we believe is a new framework to revitalize the rural economy and get people excited and interested in living and working and raising their families; whether it's broadband expansion or more aggressive use of conservation, forest restoration efforts, energy and fuel production that can come from our rural areas and all of these programs designed to create a more vibrant rural economy and all of them can utilize USDA programs. A lot of people are trying to get that last bit of vacation and travel in before the Labor Day weekend and back to school time which will mean less demand for gasoline and subsequently lower prices are expected after Labor Day. How much? One expert says prices could drop as much as 15 cents a gallon. The average retail price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline was $2.724 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. We hear on nearly a daily basis of yet another exotic or "wild" animal species being put on the endangered species list. What we don't hear about are all the numerous livestock and poultry breeds that are in danger of becoming extinct. That's where the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy organization steps in. The ALBC is a nonprofit membership driven group that has been working since 1977 to save historic livestock breeds. With the focus of today's food supply being on only a few highly specialized breeds diversity in animal agriculture has been declining at a rapid rate. This has lead the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to estimate that nearly twenty percent of farm animal breeds are endangered; a shocking number to say the least. The breeds that are endangered include horses, pigs, chickens, cattle, goats, sheep, and Ben Franklin would be shocked, turkeys. In the effort to improve certain traits in livestock breeds their biodiversity has been lost. As with humans, the animal kingdom, wild or domestic, should not be limited to a select few "high performers". To do so almost assuredly guarantees our own demise. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.