New Fire Codes & Supreme Court Rulings Impact

New Fire Codes & Supreme Court Rulings Impact plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The United States Supreme Court struck down key provisions of Arizona’s immigration law on Monday. Chris Galen with the National Milk Producer Federation says even though the High Court may have muddied the waters with its ruling - it may be the impetus needed that will push federal officials and dairy groups to find a solution to the immigration problem.

GALEN: We’re going to have to continue and redouble our efforts to work with regulators in the Department of Labor and lawmakers here on Capital Hill to create workable solutions for dairy farmers.

The National Fire Protection Association has voted to amend its standards for animal housing facilities - requiring fire sprinkling systems in newly constructed and some existing facilities. The National Pork Producers Council says this is a substantial change of the standards for animal housing. These revisions would cover all barns and other facilities where animals are kept or confined. The NFPA’s uniform codes and standards are widely used by state and local governments to set building and fire codes. Some groups believe the overly broad fire codes could significantly increase the cost of new barn construction and maintenance and could subject producers to biosecurity risks during annual sprinkler system inspections.

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

I come from stubborn stock. One of my Mom’s favorite retorts to a challenge is, “you and who’s army?” That’s why I refuse to give up when it comes to fighting pests in my garden, “never give up, never surrender”. But remember, not all creepy crawlies in the garden are “bad bugs”. There are several insects more than happy to help you with pest control. It’s fairly well known that lady beetles, aka lady bugs, are good when it comes to damage control in the garden. But there are other beneficial insects that don’t get the favored attention the lady beetle does. Green lacewings, or as my grandson likes to call them, wiffle waffles, are the proud parents of larvae often known as aphid lions; voracious little buggers that love to chow down on aphids, caterpillars, and scales. Parasitic wasps really get a bum rap. Instead of swatting these when you seen them in your garden, back quietly away and let them get on with their work, which is attacking different host insects like stinkbugs, wood boring beetles, aphids, and caterpillars. Of course you’ll need to do something for these insect helpers in return. Make sure your garden is a welcoming habitat to these soldiers of the insect world.

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