Space Mission Ends & Crop Insurance Strain

Space Mission Ends & Crop Insurance Strain

Space Mission Ends & Crop Insurance Strain plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

This growing season has been quite a test for the crop insurance program. Bill Murphy, Administrator of the USDA's Risk Management Agency, saying this growing season has brought many disasters and unique situations for the crop insurance system to handle.

MURPHY: It certainly has been testing the crop insurance program as well as the Farm Service Agency programs that they have out there. I think that we have been responding very well. There’s always issues that farmers would like to see decided sooner. For instance we’re dealing with the irrigation issues down in Texas and Oklahoma. We’re dealing with that, we’re getting procedures out there to let growers know what their options are if they feel they need to irrigate only half a circle to get a crop. We need to get their information out how to do that and how to stay within parameters of the program. It has been literally one issue after another going on.

The final voyage of the Space Shuttle was completed last Thursday leaving the U.S. space program with hands in the air asking, what now? Some believe the space missions have been a waste of time and money while others feel it is important to continue the research. I’ve been watching the space program since the very first missions began and still get excited over seeing a launch. There is talk of a manned mission back to the moon and one to Mars. There just is something in humankind that even though we have our feet firmly planted on the earth, we keep looking up towards the stars.

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

One of my fondest memories of childhood is watching my mom hang fresh laundry on the clothesline to dry in the warm summer breeze; no “fresh linen” room deodorizer can even come close to the real smell. We always slept better on sheets that had been hung out to dry. So who would have ever guessed that a person would have to get legislative approval in order to use a clothes line. Unbelievable right? In today’s world though that just happens to be the case. Due to homeowners associations who argue clotheslines are visually unappealing, and lawsuit fearing landlords who are worried about personal injury liability, clotheslines have become a thing of the past. This has created advocacy groups for both sides, those who feel they should have the right to utilize energy efficient, environmentally friendly clotheslines, and those who feel clotheslines are an eyesore and should be banned. Even The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have joined the fracas publishing articles examining the environmental movement now dubbed as “The Right to Dry”. What do you think; right to dry, or right to be aesthetically appealing?

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

Previous ReportConcerns Over Nomination & New Rule for Raw Meat and Poultry
Next ReportBison Challenges & Potato Acres Up