USDA fruit outlook; wastewater permit fees
Washington Ag Today October 7, 2011 The USDA has issued a new Fruit and Tree Nuts outlook report and department economist Agnes Perez says; Perez: “Based on those prices we are seeing higher prices for major non-citrus fruit.” And that includes apples and pears. Perez says harvest delay’s due to colder than normal and wet weather this spring resulted in generally tight early 2011-12 fruit supplies, strengthening their prices. Dwindling supplies from the previous crop also helped boost fresh apple grower prices in August. USDA says fresh apple prices will likely not fall below a year ago in the coming months. Retail apple prices were also up in August. The Washington Department of Ecology is increasing annual fees for some types of wastewater and storm water discharge permits. They include permits for Confined Animal Feeding Operations and dairies. The move increases annual permit fees by 4.34 percent for fiscal year 2012, which started in July, and 4.62 percent for fiscal year 2013. Ecology says the increases align more closely with the cost of managing the permit program. The Evergreen Exclusive Angus Sale is coming up tomorrow, October 8th, at the Benton-Franklin County Fairgrounds at Kennewick. The 12:30 p.m. sale is sponsored by the Washington Angus Association and features open and bred Angus females consigned by the Northwest’s leading Angus breeders plus a good selection of project steers. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.
