Monastery Fire & Northwest Ag Visit

Tuesday Sep 13th, 2011 40 Views Northwest Report

Monastery Fire & Northwest Ag Visit plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

21 representatives of foreign embassies located in Washington, DC, are touring Washington and Oregon through the 16th as part of the annual orientation tour sponsored by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Janet Leister who heads up international marketing for the Washington State Dept of Ag.

LEISTER: We’ll take off and go to Rainier Fruit in Yakima and they’ll get to see state of the art fruit packing. And then they’ll be hosted by the Northwest Horticulture that represents tree fruit for trade policy issues on Tuesday night.

Educating foreign officials on the benefits of U.S. agriculture through tours is one way FAS is helping achieve President Obama’s National Export Initiative objective of doubling all U.S. exports by the end of 2014.

Eighteen homes have been confirmed burned and six more possible residences have been destroyed in the Monastery Fire around Goldendale, Washington. Firefighters appear to be getting an upper hand on the blaze near Satus Pass that has charred more than 4,200 acres through more than six square miles about 20 miles north of the Columbia River northeast of Goldendale. The fire started Wednesday along U.S. Highway 97 near a Greek Orthodox monastery.

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

It’s simply a fact of life, school fundraising is a necessity. But is there any reason school fundraisers can’t be healthy? Several school districts around the country are of the mind that yes in deed, fundraisers can be healthy, not only that they can be beneficial to the local economy and local farmers as well. Since most school fundraisers are implemented in the fall it’s a great time to take advantage of the height of the harvest season for most states, with fresh produce like apples, squash, potatoes, shallots, and turnips being just a few of the great healthy products to choose from. Idaho’s State Department of Agriculture offers schools in that state a fundraiser program that includes thirteen healthy products which are grown and made in Idaho, helping not only the local schools but local growers too. A big plus with the Idaho Preferred Fundraiser program is that these products are purchased directly from the growers and producers, eliminating loss of revenue for the farmers by cutting out the middleman. This type of school fundraising definitely appeals to all of us parents who are working to keep our children and ourselves healthy.

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