Going Out For Turkey & Super Committee Fails

Going Out For Turkey & Super Committee Fails plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

President Obama noted Monday that despite the Super Committee's failure - there is no imminent threat of the U.S. defaulting on the debt it owes and the deficit will be trimmed by at least 2.2-trillion dollars over the next decade. Committee co-chairs of the deficit reduction Super Committee waited until markets closed Monday to announce they've decided it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement before the committee’s Wednesday deadline.

Thanksgiving is beginning to rank right up there with Mother’s Day as one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants. The National Restaurant Association says 14-million people will flock to restaurants tomorrow and another 16-million will eat meals at home that were bought from restaurants. San Antonio Restaurant Association President Yolanda Arrellano says part of the reason for that is convenience.

ARRELLANO: Well the price of groceries has gone up and it not only affects the restaurants it affects the customers to have to go and buy a meal. Family members and they have guests so do they want to go into the kitchen and cook; not likely.

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

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Good news it is. The average value of farmland in the midwest and western states has grown twenty-five percent in the past year, due mostly to lower interest rates and strong crop prices. That’s the most significant jump in the last thirty years, if not longer. Pretty amazing really with the multitude of hardships faced by most of the nation’s farmers this past year; seems like if it wasn’t flooding, it was so dry the trees were following the dogs around. But when the weather did cooperate, farmers did well. With the extra income made from higher corn and wheat prices this year a number of farmers turned around and purchased more land. Now for the flip side. Higher land prices are definitely going to make it more difficult for young farmers getting started. Plus, when land values go up property taxes go right up with them. And any drastic fall in land values could result in some farmers being upside down financially if they’ve borrowed against their land. Most seasoned farmers though learned from the farm credit crisis of the 80’s and have worked to keep their debt levels manageable. They will survive.

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