Recalled Onion Mix & Potato Estimates

Recalled Onion Mix & Potato Estimates plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

It won’t be long now until potato producers in the northwest get busy and Lance Honig of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service gives the latest acreage numbers for 2012 fall potato production.

HONIG: Fall potatoes and acreage forecast for this year, planted area 1-million acres. 4.8% above last year so a nice little increase there. Of course Idaho is the big driver when it comes to potatoes. They’re looking at the highest acreage level since 2007. In Washington State - another sizable producer there - highest level since 2000 so we’re seeing some good acreage levels on potatoes this year.

Gill's Onions of Oxnard, Calif. is pulling a mix of diced and slivered red and yellow onions and diced celery. The mix was packaged with the Gills Onions label and shipped to California, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington and Canada between July 2 to 4. The listeria turned up during a random test by the Food and Drug Administration of the mix from a retail store. The company is recalling all of the mixes that were produced the same day. No illnesses have been reported.

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

One of the main objections voiced by those opposed to ethanol is the impact of corn ethanol production on food prices. Throw commodity price volatility on top of that and you have a pretty strong argument against ethanol. Unfortunately, the government hasn’t done much on it’s part to allay consumer and ag industry concerns when it comes to corn ethanol production. The federal Renewable Fuels Standard mandates that 15.2 billion gallons of ethanol be produced this year. The RFS does not have any options in place for lawmakers to use in order to slow down the amount of ethanol that must be produced annually in times of a disaster, such as this year’s drought. Because of this a coalition of livestock and poultry groups is urging Congress to reform the RFS. Doing so would go a long way in promoting the ethanol cause. I don’t believe there is any one who would disagree with the fact that we as a nation need to find an alternative fuel source to crude oil. But it’s hard to rally behind ethanol while gasoline prices continue to climb and paying the grocery bill means having to get a small loan from the local money lender.

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