Favorite Washington Farmers Markets; beef federation meeting
Washington Ag Today September 2, 2010 This year’s results of the American Farmland Trust’s online voting for favorite farmers markets is over. In Washington state the winner was Ballard’s Farmers Market which garnered over 12-hundred votes. In second with 257 votes was the Olympia Farmers Market. That was followed by Auburn International Farmers Market, Prosser Farmers Market and University District Farmers Market to round out the top five in the state. A Federation of State Beef Councils task force met earlier this week to develop a governance structure that brings about greater independence from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The Federation initially informed the USDA it might take as long as six months to propose and implement a more independent structure. But USDA officials charged with oversight of the beef check off gave the Federation only until mid-September to draft a plan that is acceptable to stakeholders like the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union and the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association. The Washington Beef Commission is a member of the Federation and in a recent interview commissioner Dave Boone said he didn’t want to get sidetracked by structural issues. Boone: “You know those things are going to happen because that is life. But keeping our focus on promoting beef, as a beef commissioner is my firm conviction of where they need to keep their focus. We know that in the background there is other stuff happening at National Cattlemen‘s and we are dealing with it, but don‘t lose sight of what our job is.” I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net. ?
