Drought Conditions & Death Tax Repeal

Drought Conditions & Death Tax Repeal

 Drought Conditions & Death Tax Repeal plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The Pacific Northwest has been getting a fair amount of rain this year...even more than normal in some areas but that has not been the case for nearly 50% of the Continental U.S. Drought conditions continue across the Midwest and the corn crop continues to deteriorate. USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey says that 38-percent represents the highest amount of U.S. corn rated very poor to poor since the end of the 1988 growing season.

RIPPEY: That year the corn crop peaked out with 53% of the corn very poor to poor. Last year the crop looking much better at this time and we now see in 13 of the 18 major production states for the U.S. at least 1/4 of the corn is rated very poor to poor.

Northwest crops have been faring pretty well and it looks like a good season for crops in the northwest.

With the scheduled expiration of the Bush tax cuts in January - the push is on for permanent repeal of the estate tax - known as the death tax. The idea of full repeal is supported by ag groups like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation. If Congress fails to act - the estate tax rate would jump to 55-percent. An extension would hold the rate at 35-percent.

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

Yet another undercover video has been released by an animal activist group. The video is from a Minnesota hog farm and is supposed to make the point that gestation stalls should be banned. Strangely though, they chose to video standard production practices on the hog farm that had nothing to do with their argument on gestation stalls. The Animal Care Review Panel, a group of animal wellbeing experts who analyzed the video, requested the “unedited” version of the video but their request was ignored. One of the experts who viewed the video stated, “There is no real method of assessing from this video the actual level of care giving on the farm”. Surely, it’s time that someone within the political arena stands up for animal agriculture by making submitters of undercover videos accountable for their actions by requiring unedited videos, and signed affidavits that they themselves did not take part in staging the abuse. This one sided view of animal agriculture as seen through the lens of animal activists’ undercover edited videos has done irreparable damage to the relationship between honest livestock producers and the consumer.

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

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