Early Wildfire Season & Balking at Sharing Data
Early Wildfire Season & Balking at Sharing Data plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.
The G-8 summit on data sharing wrapped up yesterday and while the topic was sharing...there are still some nations that are reluctant to share even the most basic agricultural information about production and stocks. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack.
VILSACK: Our hope is an example we set and that other G-8 nations set. We’ll encourage the nations that have been not as forthcoming to recognize that it is in their best long-term interest, their consumers best long-term interest, their farmers and producers best long-term interest to be a part of this process as opposed to making it more difficult.
The northwest has had a fairly dry spring up to the this point and while that might be good for playing outdoors, when it comes to fire season it’s not. In fact the 2013 fire season will likely begin in mid-June, instead of the normal July 5. Weather forecasts are not showing any significant precipitation for the next several weeks helping to usher in greater fire danger. The two leading causes for wildfires are lightning strikes and human activity which tends to peak around holiday times.
Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.
Ok, no one is looking. Raise your hand if you really read labels when you are grocery shopping? I didn’t think so. Other than a quick glance to maybe check how many calories or how much fat or sodium a food contains, in all honesty the majority of us do not read food labels like we’re studying for end term exams. So why all the “push comes to shove” by food activists to federally require pullout food labels listing everything it seems from calories, carbs, fats and other ingredients, to country of origin, processing and manufacturing details, right down to the name of the farmer’s firstborn? Despite adamant claims that this type of food labeling is not motivated by an anti-GE agenda, legislation being introduced by certain Senators to require the FDA to mandate such labeling sure smacks of anti-GE. It seems no matter how many times states and their voters say no to legislation demanding food labels carry messages about whether a food product is the product of or contains ingredients developed with biotechnology, food activists continue to push for legislation which will result in very expensive food labeling changes for farmers and consumers.
Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
