Washington Cheese Warning & Colder Winter

Washington Cheese Warning & Colder Winter plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. The FDA is warning consumers to discard cheeses from Estrella Family Creamery of Montesano, Wash., because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Estrella manufactures at least 18 varieties of soft ripened, semi-soft, semi-hard and hard cheeses made from raw cow or goat milk and aged 60 days or longer. The cheeses are sold in wheels or cut to order for retail markets, and do not contain lot codes. Estrella cheeses are sold at specialty cheese shops, farmers markets, the company's farm store and through the internet. The new "Old Farmer's Almanac" was released on Tuesday and according to Jane Stillman, Editor most of the country will see a colder-than-usual winter while summer and spring will be relatively cool and dry. STILLMAN: We're looking for a cold winter on most of the Eastern half of the U.S. and it's almost in sort of like a gradiated fashion down in the southern tier we're going to see cold weather with lots of rain. In that mid-Atlantic tier and across Tennessee, Kentucky and that area we're going to see cold weather with above normal snowfall. And across the northern tier we're going to see some snow but in general it's going to be below average amounts of snow. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. There is nothing like a story on the internet about rising food prices and limited food supplies to bring on an avalanche of comments, some sane, some severe, some just plain scary, and far too many aimed at farmers. The number one culprit for these problems is once again put down to global warming brought on by green house gases. While even those who are not dyed in the wool "greenies" do not dispute the presence of climate change, there remains the debate over cause. Severe weather has been present since the beginning of time, or at least since we could determine and record such changes. The earth consists of natural cycles, and while greenhouse gas emissions certainly contributes to those changing cycles it would be wrong to assume that alone is the main cause. But in times of trouble everyone searches for a scapegoat and more often than not agriculture becomes the easy target. According to the Environmental Protection Agency animal agriculture is responsible for only 2.6 percent of greenhouse gasses, significantly less than the transportation sector, but it's apparently far easier to bite the hand that feeds you than to look in the mirror. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.