Open Season for Wolves & Ag Research

Open Season for Wolves & Ag Research plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

A recent study shows what might happen to ag productivity by the year 2050 dependent on ag research spending. Paul Heisey of Economic Research Service says that research and productivity are very close partners.

HEISEY: We’re quite convinced that public agriculture research investment is a major factor in what will happen to future growth of U.S. agricultural productivity.

Heisey says that public funding for ag research needs to continue to grow to maintain production levels.

Idaho’s backcountry is seeing a lot of activity. Yesterday was the beginning of the state’s second public open season for hunting wolves. Estimates are that about 1,000 wolves now roam the state. And while no caps have been set on the number of wolves that can be killed overall, wildlife managers have set limits in certain areas. State wildlife managers approved the public hunt, a new set of rules and dates earlier this year as part of its effort to control the predator's population. The open season runs for seven months.

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

You’d be hard pressed to find an American that isn’t aware of the grim fact that our nation’s government needs to cut spending, cut it to the bone so to speak. Where those cuts are going to be made has been the subject of many a discussion across the country, from local coffee shops and town hall meetings to the floor of Congress. Farmers can’t help but worry that agriculture will once again be a primary target for federal budget cuts; and yes, as the hatchet falls everyone will be arguing for their own specific programs to survive. But agriculture as a whole has already made large sacrifices to help trim budgets. Frankly there isn’t a lot of what could be considered as excesses in farm policies left to cut. While our country most assuredly needs to be put back on firm financial footing, throwing farmers under the bus is not the way to go about getting there. To continue to reduce or eliminate agriculture programs is literally biting the hand that feeds us. Several ag programs that have been in place for decades were implemented for good reason and the security they provide farmers is a prime reason why our nation’s ag industry is the driving force in this world that it is.

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