Estrella Cheese Troubles Continue & Snokist USDA Loan plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.
Snokist Growers announced Wednesday of receiving a $9.6 million Business and Industry Loan from the USDA Rural Development. The USDA funding is made available through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Jim Davis, President of Snokist Growers says the loan was approved earlier in the year.
DAVIS: It actually happened this summer. The presentation was just yesterday actually with the Washington State Director of Rural Development came out and gave him the tour and they gave us a certificate but the actual transaction, the funding of the loan happened in early summer.
In an unusual action, the Food and Drug Administration forced one of Washington's most well-known artisan cheesemakers to shut down, saying the product could be contaminated with bacteria that can cause serious illness. The FDA took the action Friday, after asking Estrella Family Creamery to initiate a recall. Estrella declined. No illnesses have been linked with the cheeses, the state Department of Health said.
Problems at Estrella began in February. That's when an inspection by the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) turned up Listeria monocytogenes, a bacteria found in animal feces, in the creamery's production areas and in its finished cheese, according to court records.
Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray.
Can the "green movement" and the agriculture industry co-exist in today's society? Absolutely! Agriculture is the heart and soul behind the green movement. The green movement's ultimate goal is to obtain ecological living here on Earth. Eating is a fundamental need, and in keeping with a popular children's book theme, "everybody must eat". That's where sustainable agriculture, which recognizes the importance of protecting the natural environment, comes to the forefront. The term sustainable agriculture has been around awhile, though there's debate on who originally coined the term to describe "an alternative system of agriculture based on rural life quality and resource conservation". Even though sustainable agriculture has become an umbrella term used to define several different alternative farming methods, these criteria remain consistent, it's environmentally sound, economically viable, and socially acceptable. Farmers care about the environment, not caring would be foolhardy, their very livelihood depends upon safeguarding the earth.
Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
