Washington spud acreage up; Beef Board Chair resigns
Washington Ag Today July 13, 2011 The first estimate of this year’s potato acreage in Washington from the Washington Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service puts plantings at 155-thousand acres. That is up 20-thousand acres or 15 percent from last year and ten thousand more than planted acres two years ago. Nationally, fall potato acreage is up six percent from 2010. The Statistics Service says 89 percent of Washington’s potato crop was planted to Russet types, seven percent to White varieties and the remainder is yellow, red and blue types. The Chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, Tom Jones, has resigned. The Beef Board administers the national beef check off to which Washington beef producers contribute. Part of the reason for Jones stepping down is his father’s health. Jones: “My faith, my family and my farm simply come first and those have been neglected. I could no longer do that especially given all the turmoil going on with the beef check off right now. I didn‘t really feel like being the football anymore that gets kicked between two sides so it was best for me to step down from the Board.” The turmoil Jones refers to is the controversy over the relationship among the Beef Board, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Federation of State Beef Councils. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net. ? ?
