Olympics In The Northwest & New Farm Report

Olympics In The Northwest & New Farm Report

Olympics In The Northwest & New Farm Report plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Would you like to see the 2024 Summer Olympics in Seattle or possibly Portland? The U.S. Olympic Committee has sent letters to the mayors of the 25 largest cities in the U.S. in hopes of getting some interest. The summer games have not been in the U.S. since 1996 when they were held in Atlanta. Cities considering putting in a bid also need to consider the cost. Besides construction and infrastructure, operating costs can run over $3-billion dollars.

Fewer farmers in the U.S. but bigger farms is what a new report shows according to USDA Statistician Scott Shimmin. That really hasn’t changed much in the last 30 years.

SHIMMIN: For 2012, I think the estimates fit that trend very, very close. The total number of farms is down 11,600. The average size of farms for all farms is up one acre. Total acres is down 3-million from 2011.

Total number of farms in 2012 was estimated at 2.2 million.

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

Agriculture and food lobbyists call the “egg bill” a very scary proposition, and there is good reason for that. Other livestock producers are keeping a close eye on what happens with HR 3798 as most of them see it as an HSUS platform to pursue broader restrictions on animal agriculture production, perhaps even for the HSUS to go so far as to try to attach similar egg bill language to the next farm bill. HR 3798 has very specific requirements on the size of hen housing, as well as maximum caps on ammonia levels, and a new labeling regime. The HSUS claims that their intentions with this bill are confined only to eggs. But their very aggressive and litigious history of attacking pork and dairy producers easily leaves one to believe that they protest the focus of their intent too much. It is highly unlikely that this bill can go through Congress and not have further reaching ramifications on the rest of agriculture. Ag producers need to remember that the squeaky wheel gets the grease; they need to make their concerns known to lawmakers loudly and often, because the HSUS is no longer just a squeaky wheel, it has become a roaring 747 going at breakneck speed towards its main goal, the abolition of animal agriculture.

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

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