One Step Closer & More for Thanksgiving Meal

One Step Closer & More for Thanksgiving Meal

One Step Closer & More for Thanksgiving Meal plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization cleared a major hurdle last Thursday when the group working on its accession approved a referendum that spells out Russia’s terms of entry to the organization. The WTO Working Party will now send its accession recommendation to the WTO Ministerial Conference which begins tomorrow. There Ministers are expected to approve the documents and accept Russia as a WTO Member.

Hard to believe that we are just over a week away from the beginning of the holidays. This year consumers will pay a bit more at the grocery store for a turkey and all the trimmings according to John Anderson, Senior Economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation.

ANDERSON: The total value of the meal was $49.20. That compares with $43.47 last year so that’s about a 13% increase. In general we have seem food prices increase for most of this year and I think it’s important to recognize that our survey is really kind of picking up on a trend that’s been in place across a broad set of food items since about late 2010. The centerpiece of the entire meal, the turkey, was one of the biggest increasing items. The turkey price increased by about $3.91 for a 16-lb bird.

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

I have been asked in the past what “credentials” I have that give me the right to comment on certain issues. I have to chuckle when I read these “in earnest” inquires. Being a scholar at an accredited university, published author, or even the latest guest on Nightline does not automatically give that person a more finely sharpened capacity to discern the true nature of a situation than one who reaches a very different and separate conclusion through sheer life experience or the informal pursuit of knowledge. That said, whether it’s a debate over HSUS business ethics, or lack there of, organic farming versus conventional farming, or the pros and cons of using genetically modified foods and the technologies that allow us to do so I welcome all opinions and discussions; how else are we to broaden our minds and get ourselves thinking about issues we maybe hadn’t paid attention to before. Wouldn’t it be a boring world if we all agreed all the time about everything? It is generally through opposing viewpoints that we can learn the most, and frankly more often than not the true answer lies somewhere in the middle.

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

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