Dealing with Bees & Farm Expenses

Dealing with Bees & Farm Expenses

Dealing with Bees & Farm Expenses plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Yearly farm expenses are expected to hit a new high for 2011, according to USDA reports released Tuesday. Up over 11% from 2011 and according to USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber will reach the $300 billion dollar mark.

GLAUBER: Feed costs are up about 20%. That goes hand in hand with wheat and soybean prices and then fuel and fertilizer prices are up almost 24% so we’ve seen those increases in oil prices translate into higher diesel prices, higher gasoline prices and also fertilizer prices.

He does add that receipts are up and farm sector debt is down almost 2% from last year so that means that is good news for farmers.

This is NOT the way to deal with a beehive. Gasoline and a match. A Lynden, Washington man got angry with bees after they stung a friend and used gasoline and a match to get rid of the bees who had nested inside a tree. Unfortunately they hive exploded and could be heard for several blocks. No one was injured...except for the bees. The correct way to deal with a bee hive you want removed is to call a beekeeper and have them remove the hive.

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

Al Gore is ramping things up again in his campaign against, well, just about everything, which must mean he’s run out of money from his last book/movie deal. He’s taking a stab once again at agriculture, touting modern farming as “a major part of the problem in regards to the world’s climate issues, with the shift toward a more meat intensive diet.” I was under the impression that there was a consumer shift towards a more fruit and vegetable intensive diet. In fact, we’re bombarded on a daily basis with anti-meat propaganda. There are times as meat eaters many of us almost feel the need to apologize for our pro-meat diet. So what has Gore all worked up into a curse word frenzy, as was so apparent in his Colorado appearance earlier this month? Could it be that the science just doesn’t back him up, or that the public is increasingly skeptical of his global warming message? While conserving energy and reducing our dependance on fossil fuels is a no brainer, and will be beneficial all around, it’s hard to take the nation’s number one climate change scare monger serious when considering that he lives in a ten thousand square foot energy eating mega mansion.

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

Previous ReportOpen Season for Wolves & Ag Research
Next ReportMount Hood Fault and Irene's Impact On Agriculture