Women In Ag Conference & GMO Labeling Petition

Women In Ag Conference & GMO Labeling Petition

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Saturday, February 23 WSU Extension Western Center for Risk Management education will be hosting the Women in Agriculture: Women, Farm, & Food conference, which will be held simultaneously in multiple locations across the state, and will focus on various issues that women face in agriculture. Jo Lynne Seufer, Risk Management Specialist with USDA Risk Management Agency talks about the reason for conducting an on-line conference of this type.

SEUFER: Last year we had almost 500 attend throughout the state, and of course they were in sixteen locations. Our goal was to enable women farmers to not have to drive anymore than maybe fifty or seventy-five miles to get to a location where they could spend the day networking with other local women farmers, and also to benefit from the satellite webinars that we had for all sites.

Seufer issues an invite to women farmers in surrounding states.

SEUFER: We’re hoping that this year is going to be just as successful, and we’re also getting a lot of interest from north Idaho women farmers. We hope maybe some of the women farmers from north Oregon come on over and go to our sites within the state of Washington and southern Washington as well.

For more information visit WomeninAg.wsu.edu.

January 3 supporters of proposed ballot Initiative 522, which would require labeling of genetically modified foods and seeds sold in Washington, delivered petitions with 350 thousand signatures to the Washington Secretary of State. Many agricultural groups in the state oppose I-522 due to what several say would be a regulatory nightmare of state by state labeling requirements, if put into effect.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network.