Frozen Veggie Prices & Emergency Preparedness

Frozen Veggie Prices & Emergency Preparedness plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

After three Florida freezes in the last month doing damage to tomatoes and other crops, will shoppers be seeing huge price hikes? Gary Lucier, USDA economist, saying that despite the freezes, the retail prices for most fresh vegetables may still be at or below last winter, when a freeze did even more damage to crops.

LUCIER: Well it’s likely that thousands of acres of tender, warm season vegetables – those are vegetables that are subject to loss if we get a frost, something like snap beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, squash, bell peppers, those sorts of items; well those particular items suffered severe damage with the freeze in Florida and really the majority of mature plants that were being harvested or ready for harvest in most areas even in southern Florida were likely destroyed.

While regional emergency agencies can check many items off their disaster to-do lists, one empty box is usually citizen preparedness. In a report issued Dec. 14 by the Trust for America’s Health, Idaho ranked among the nation’s 11 lowest-scoring states in meeting 10 measures of health emergency preparedness. Idaho joined eight states with a score 6 out of 10, while Montana and Iowa received the lowest score of 5. North Dakota, Washington and Arkansas received perfect scores. The report was based on results from 2007 to 2008, except for funding.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

One of the more productive things predicted to continue gaining popularity in 2011 is the “victory garden”. Harkening back to the self reliance and self sufficiency of previous generations  more and more people have enjoyed planning, planting, and procuring their own versions of a victory garden. Originally started to support the nation’s war effort, today’s victory gardens are a way for people to save money, declare their independence from the commercially packaged food world, and also help them reconnect with nature, and their own nutrition; besides being just plain enjoyable. If you happen to live in an area experiencing cold weather right now, it’s the perfect time to plan next year’s garden. With all the gardening websites, blogs, and books available now days even the most novice of gardeners can soon be up to speed on what to plant, when to plant and where to plant their gardens. Victory gardens are planted in backyards, on rooftops, as community endeavors in vacant lots, and even in such highly public places as the lawn of the White House. Today, “dig for victory” may have taken on a whole new meaning but it’s still as important and vital as it was seventy years ago. 

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.