Weather Problems & Chinese Beef

Weather Problems & Chinese Beef plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke with his Chinese counterpart this weekend. He says they discussed opportunities for agriculture in the talks between President Obama and Premier Hu this week, including in the area of beef.

VILSACK: The beef trade has been essentially shut down since 2003. We want to reopen that beef trade and we want to do it in a way that doesn’t jeopardize our capacity to get the Korean Free Trade Agreement through and we basically have agreed with Korea that we’re not going to give another country a better deal than we’ve given to Korea. The Chinese are a little bit reluctant to accept the terms and conditions of that arrangement. We’re going to continue to press. My hope is that President Obama will tell President Hu that this is something that is important to the country, it’s important to our relationship and hopefully over time the Chinese will become more flexible in their position. At this point they’re a bit inflexible about it.

The northwest weather has been quite interesting to say the least. Flooding problems and high winds have created many problems in the region. Most floodwaters seem to be cresting but it will take some time before river return to normal and damage can be assessed. High winds in Eastern Washington have many homeowners looking for roof repairs and a sinkhole in Newport, Oregon has nearly swallowed 2 homes.  A bit more rain is in the forecast for the region before drier conditions return later in the week.

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

Think the debate over genetically engineered crops couldn’t possibly get any hotter? Think again. With a highly unusual public forum planned this week by the partially formed House Agriculture Committee to “review the biotechnology product regulatory approval process” things are likely to become very heated in deed. Preempting the USDA’s expected announcement next week on whether unrestricted biotech alfalfa planting will be allowed this public forum will undoubtedly draw the attention of environmentalists and others opposed to biotechnology creating a “pressure cooker” that could result in even more restrictions on biotech plantings and endanger the future approval for any biotech products. New House Agriculture Committee Chair Rep. Frank Lucas, for reasons known apparently only to himself, chose to hold this public forum despite the fact that a formal congressional hearing is not possible at this time because the committee is not yet fully organized with all members named. Lucas may very well be putting himself and his fellow committee members in the middle of a biotech restrictions battle that makes opening Pandora’s Box look tame.

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