No Budget-No Pay & Boise Farmers Market

No Budget-No Pay & Boise Farmers Market plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Washington Congressman Doc Hastings recently submitted a proposal designed to get the Senate to act on a budget. Even though there was a fiscal cliff deal Hastings says there is a deeper issue.

HASTINGS: Underlying all of that was the fact that the Senate for the last 3 years has not even produced a budget and of course the House has produced a budget the last 2 years and it’s gone absolutely nowhere. And so we thought the best way to address this, at least in the House with the debt limit was to say, ok, we will raise the debt limit for a short term basis but the Senate has to pass the budget. And if they don’t pass the budget they simply will not get paid in a timely manner.

Boise is getting a new farmer’s market. The new market is set to take place downtown at the same time and, just a few blocks away from the other market's location on Front Street. A number of former vendors from the Capital City Public Market, the long time Boise market, got together and created this new outlet for farm fresh produce.

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

It seems “dumpster diving” is no longer considered the social pariah it once was. In fact, it now appears to be the in thing to do among the “environmentally aware”. “Food sharing” is where people, angered by the amount of edible food thrown out by grocery stores on a daily basis, use the Internet to connect with others to share perfectly edible food they’ve recovered from supermarket dumpsters. Germany takes the lead in “dumpster diving food sharing”. Some there have even taken it to the next level, refusing to spend money on groceries, instead opting to feed their families with only food rescued from the trash. If that makes your lip curl, and your insides quiver, you’re not alone. While that is an extreme example, it does make one sit up and take notice of the serious issue of food waste around the globe. When the amount of food we throw away in this country on a daily basis would feed a third world country, it’s high time we wise up and manage our food use and food waste better. But, since most Americans live in urban settings now, as opposed to rural areas, and don’t or can’t relate to the toil behind the food, we certainly have our work cut out for us in relearning the value of our food and the people who grow it.

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