Social Security Warning & Supporting GIPSA

Social Security Warning & Supporting GIPSA plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Some small independent producers support GIPSA changes including R-Calf CEO Bill Bullard who explains why his group supports the USDA proposals to change GIPSA rules. BULLARD: If we look at the other livestock industries, the hog and poultry industries for example we failed to balance the disparate economic and political power between the independent producers and the highly concentrated meat packing sector. As a result both the poultry and hog industries have now been vertically integrated by the meat packers. We don't want the cattle industry to go in that direction which is precisely why we do support the rebalancing of the economic power in the marketplace and we believe that the new rule that USDA has proposed will accomplish that. Retirement ages have been going up but government auditors told Congress that raising the retirement age for Social Security would disproportionately hurt low-income workers and minorities, and increase disability claims by older people unable to work. Under current law, people can start drawing reduced, early retirement benefits from Social Security at age 62. Full benefits are available at 66, a threshold gradually increasing to 67 for people who were born in 1960 or later. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. In flitting around the internet the other day in search of possible new Thanksgiving recipes I ran across an article about substitutions for the Thanksgiving turkey. Now I realize there are folks out there who do not eat meat and that they probably appreciate a recipe idea for the holidays just like I do, but the "better than turkey" options that were listed left me scratching my head. Some were okay and rather obvious turkey substitutions, squash, pasta, and salmon being a few, but others were downright odd, such as the Tofurky. And then there was the suggestion that if your family wasn't quite ready to give up the big bird as your holiday fare than perhaps you should consider an ethical bird or shooting your own. Really, that last one would make me feel like a better omnivore how? What I am open to is getting a Heritage turkey, which is raised outdoors and has eaten a varied diet of fresh grasses and insects. They say once you've tasted a Heritage turkey with their more moist meat and rich flavor you never go back to the supermarket variety of turkey. So, that's my family's Thanksgiving fare, real turkey, from real farmers, for a very real holiday. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.