World Bank On Food Prices & Hazing Geese

World Bank On Food Prices & Hazing Geese plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

International food prices are 36-percent higher than a year ago. According to the World Bank, 44-million people have been driven into poverty since last June as a result of the spikes and a further 10-percent price increase could lead to 34-million more poor. World Bank President Bob Zoellick says spiking food prices are the biggest threat today to the world’s poor.
ZOELLICK: We are one shock away from a full blown crisis. I’m concerned that for most commodities stocks are relatively low and if you have one other weather event in some of the areas you really take a danger zone and start to push people over the edge and so that’s why we also need measures on the volatility side.

Geese in central Oregon are getting a hazing these days from a 6-year old Australian Kelpie named Flame. Ernie Gilpin is working with Flame to haze geese in Drake Park along the Deschutes River in hopes of keeping the park cleaner. The park district's annual budget for cleaning up after the birds is about $10,000. They hope the hazing will drive the geese into a wilder habitat and out of the park. The park has put out a call to other volunteers and their dogs. It will be interesting to see if it’s effective.

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

Want colored eggs at Easter, but don’t want the mess or worry about artificial dyes, then you need to find yourself naturally colored eggs in shades of blue, green, pale yellow, and even pink; enough pastel hues to satisfy any Easter egg aficionado. The Araucana chicken which originated in Chile, and Ameraucana chickens, developed in the United States from South American breeds, actually lay pastel colored eggs naturally. In reality there are several mixed breeds of chickens in the U.S.known as “Easter Eggers”. Why do these chickens lay blue, green, and pink eggs? They just do! I’m sure there’s a more scientific answer, but for now different breeds lay different colored eggs. While no one has figured out yet how to get chickens to lay polka dotted eggs or eggs with stripes and zig zags, the Easter Eggers can provide plenty of color to any Easter Basket without having to dip a single egg. And even though my grandson thinks the brown ones should be chocolate, the verdict is still out on how to get a chicken to lay a chocolate egg! It’s right up there with how that darned rabbit manages to lay all those candy filled eggs around our yard!

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