White House Oops, Tainted Cantaloupe & Anti-Ethanol

White House Oops, Tainted Cantaloupe & Anti-Ethanol plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Well even the White House makes a goof now and then. I’ll pause a second for you to snicker...it seems that during President Obama’s recent road trip out west someone could not tell Wyoming and Colorado apart on a map. Oops.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley hopes - the people who are anti-ethanol have satisfied their desire to make their point with what all they have done already negatively with ethanol this year. The Senator also hopes they will ‘lay off’ the RFS. However, Grassley notes:

GRASSLEY: There’s some talk from livestock groups that want to go after the RFS. I think that’s going to be a little bit more difficult for them to do that. Then the rider on the appropriations bill from the House that would strike the E15 provisions I think we can stop.

Health officials say as many as 16 people have died and 72 have become ill from possible listeria traced to Colorado cantaloupes, the deadliest food outbreak in more than a decade. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listeria is more deadly than well-known pathogens like salmonella and E. coli, though those outbreaks generally cause many more illnesses. The outbreak has been traced to Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo., which recalled the tainted cantaloupes earlier this month. The cantaloupes were shipped to 25 states including Idaho.

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

On a trip through California this past week to visit relatives I was able to check something off my “bucket list”. Ever since I can remember I have wanted to visit the giant redwoods along The Avenue of the Giants in Northern California. Seems we were always in too much of a hurry to do it on previous trips, but this time we made it a point to see the redwoods. Hey, redwoods may live for thousands of years, but I’m not getting any younger and I certainly can’t match their longevity. These magnificent and massive trees can only be found in a couple of places, one being the good old USA. There’s good reason people from around the world flock here to see these ancient trees; the awe inspiring yet humbling experience of standing beneath their towering canopies is comparable to a religious experience. These giant sentinels have stood for centuries defying the ravages of flood, fire, man, and time. With wise forest management practices there is a considerable chance that when these majestic giants do eventually die many more seedlings will be able to sprout, hopefully surviving thousands of years like their predecessors before them.

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