Wasted Food & Ag Secretary Discusses Korean Trade

Wasted Food & Ag Secretary Discusses Korean Trade plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Last Thursday the Korean Free Trade Agreement officially began and a lot of ag producers are curious what this will mean for their production in the long run. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack talks about the agreement.

VILSACK: We anticipate and expect when it’s fully implemented you are going to see a 10 to 12 billion dollar increase in gross domestic product. That obviously means more jobs, high incomes for Americans. It’s an opportunity to level the playing field, make it a little bit easier for our businesses to compete effectively and fairly.

Experts at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago last week said an estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of the food produced in the world goes uneaten. 30 to 50%! The average American throws away 33 pounds of food each month -- about $40 worth -- according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, which plans to publish a report on food waste in April. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 23 percent of eggs and an even higher percentage of produce ends up in the trash. Hard data is still being collected but it will be interesting to watch this story as it progresses.

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

When I was a younger I used to love to bake, still do. I’d bake all sorts of goodies, cakes, pies, cookies, rolls - all on a fairly frequent basis, until one day my Mom said “we love your baking, but you just have to stop before the rest of us weigh five hundred pounds!” Well, as anyone who loves to bake knows, I just couldn’t stop. So, I continued baking and just gave it all to our friends and neighbors; much to my Mom’s chagrin when she found out. But now I know, I was just ahead of my time. The fourth Saturday in March is “Bake and Take Day” in the United States and creates an opportunity for folks to show kindness to friends and neighbors by sharing homemade baked treats. Sponsored by stakeholders in the U.S. wheat, flour and baking industries, this event began in Kansas in 1970 as a community service project to generate goodwill in communities through the sharing of home baked goods with family members, friends, neighbors and those in need. The idea became so successful national Bake and Take Day was created in 1973. So, if you have the urge to bake, but no occasion to bake for - don't worry, Bake and Take Day supplies the perfect reason to break out the flour!

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