Farmers Market Sampling & Average Prices Up

Farmers Market Sampling & Average Prices Up

Farmers Market Sampling & Average Prices Up plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

A trip to the grocery store shows that prices for most commodities are up a bit. USDA has boosted it forecast again for average prices of all categories of major meat animals according to World Agricultural Outlook Board Chair Gerry Bange.

BANGE: We’re looking now at a steer price for 2011 at $111.70 per hundred weight. That’s up $3.64 and it reflects a 17% rise since 2010 if that number in 2011 comes to pass. We’re looking at a hog price of $63.48 per hundred weight. That’s up 15%. It’s also up $2.36 from previous estimates.

Broiler prices are up 1.6% and a 5.4% increase in turkey prices since last year.

If you like shopping for fresh fruit and veggies at your local farmers market in Washington state you will now have the opportunity to also sample beer and wine thanks to a measure signed into law last Thursday. It establishes a 14-month pilot program at 10 markets in the state beginning September 1. Supporters say it will allow local businesses to promote their products and gain exposure.

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

Do you suppose the nation’s courtrooms will ever stop being the equivalent of a grownup playground, where bullying, temper tantrums, and game playing run rampant. As lawsuit after lawsuit is filed, extending litigation over decades, an end seems to be no where in sight. Environmentalists file lawsuit on top of lawsuit over everything from the protection of earthworms, fleas, and fowl, to the production of biotech crops and fossil fuel replacements. No one should argue the fact that everyone is entitled to their day in court, but that right should not be allowed to extend into a ceaseless litigation process, tying up the courts and wasting taxpayer dollars. Case in point, the environmentalists’ lawsuit against Roundup Ready alfalfa. This suit has been on going in one form or another now for five years, sadly just a blink of an eye in litigation time. Several judicial rulings have been made in the case, but none which the environmentalists approve of; meaning they’ll only be happy with a total ban on the planting and selling of the crop. As these groups are well aware, if at first you don’t succeed, file suit, again, and again, and again.

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

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