Vilsack In Vietnam & Organic Fraud

Vilsack In Vietnam & Organic Fraud plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

A few weeks back I spoke with Ag Secretary Tom Vislack about his trade mission to Vietnam and China. He hoped to build a stronger relationship and develop more trade during his trip. He left this week and will be meeting with ag officials and speaking at Hanoi Ag University.

VILSACK: So this is an historic visit and I think an important visit and I hope that over time we will have a strong ally in the international forum. You know we have a lot of issues involving agriculture in international forums in terms of standards. Sanitary and phytosanitary standards. The more friends we have in those forums, the easier it is for us to get a rules and science based system.

Federal fraud charges have been brought against a Springfield, Oregon man for supposedly selling more than 4 million pounds of corn labeled as organic. Due to the organic labeling the man realized an additional $200-thousand dollar profit. Prosecutors say the man sold the corn to Grain Millers, which then sold it as organic feed for livestock. The grain was purchased from suppliers in Idaho and Eastern Washington but false paperwork indicated it came from an organic grower in Milton-Freewater.

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

The National Christmas Tree Association will not be getting what it wanted for Christmas this year; that would have been a Christmas tree checkoff that the Christmas tree industry has been asking for since 2008. The checkoff was requested in an effort to raise money for the promotion of real trees, which have seen a drastic drop off in sales over the last several years. Unfortunately for the NCTA the fifteen cent assessment per tree on those who sold or imported more than five hundred trees per year was reported by certain media outlets as a current administration “Christmas tree tax”. This has resulted in an overwhelming public belief that a fifteen cent Christmas tree assessment is everything from greedy government tactics to a conspiracy against christians. Far from being either of these, the proposal to create an assessment on tree growers to fund research and promotional programs through the USDA was introduced during the prior administration by the Christmas tree industry in an effort to grow their business and create a positive image; much like the “Got Milk”, “Incredible Edible Egg, and “Pork, the other white meat” campaigns.

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