2010 Ag Year in Review Part 4

Ag Year in Review Part 4. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

All in all, 2010 was not a bad year in agriculture. Sure there were some moments but for the most part it was dealing with existing problems like immigration and food saety. In November voters decided they wanted to see some change and headed to the polls, ousting many while keeping others. The ag industry may see some bright spots in 2011 as a result. For the first time in four years - USDA opened a Conservation Reserve Program or CRP general sign-up. Jonathan Coppess - Administrator of the Farm Service Agency in Washington – explains.

COPPESS: What it is is it’s essentially a competitive process. They’re going to make an offer of land to go into the program, we’re going to judge it, we evaluate it based on the environmental benefits, the conservation benefits that we would get by putting that land in permanent cover crops for a 10 year contract period.

We heard a lot in 2010 about getting back to nature and doing things both simply and sustainably.  Laura Sweany, a Core Organizing Committee Member for the 2010 Northwest Permaculture Convergence talked about growing interest in the idea.

SWEANY: To explain it simply I could say that permaculture is where you take the science of whole systems design and you apply it to food production. You can look at the word “permaculture” and see that it has two meanings – permanent agriculture, as well as permanent culture.

The northwest had some specific ag issues to content with and one in particular dealt with the restrictions on the use of several pesticides near salmon-bearing waters Washington State Department of Ag Director, Dan Newhouse said west coast states were trying hard to come up with a solution.NEWHOUSE: We have put together a white paper that in great detail and I think fairly easy to understand terms describe the situation and some of the potential remedies to the situation to allow the full implementation of the Endangered Species Act but still continue to give agriculture an opportunity to be able to exist in conjunction.

One of the biggest issues though this year dealt with food safety and included a massive recall of eggs. There were of course several e. coli related recalls on beef and cheese products but healthy eating was a big topic that included the First Lady and one Chris Voight, director of the Washington Potato Commission.

VOIGHT: I’m going on a diet for 60 days straight of where I am only going to eat potatoes. About 20 potatoes a day. No chili on them, no cheese, no sour cream, no gravy, no butter. Just simply potatoes and some seasoning – some herbs or seasoning. Something that’s not necessarily going to add any nutritional value.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.