Wildfires & Obama in Mexico

Wildfires & Obama in Mexico plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The President had a very strong message for Mexico and it was about partnership. He was on his second trip to the country south of the border and he spent time talking about immigration reform and the export markets.

OBAMA: Let’s do more to expand trade and commerce that creates good jobs for our people. We already buy more of your exports than any country in the world. We sell more of our exports to Mexico than we do to Brazil, Russia, India and China combined. Let’s realize the Trans-Pacific Partnership this year so our two nations can compete and win in the fast growing markets of the Asia-Pacific. If the United States and Mexico are working together we can sell a whole lot of things on the other side of the Pacific Ocean where the fastest growing economies are taking off right now.

Last week we discussed the possibility of an early fire season here in the northwest as a major fire was breaking out in Southern California. The point was driven home as 10 wildfires broke out here at home. Fires on the west side of the Cascades were being driven by winds from the east. The Department of Natural Resources says even with very few warm days this spring, the landscape has already had a chance to dry out. It doesn’t take much for a wildfire to spread quickly, especially when dry winds blow 5, 10 or more mph.

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

We’ve been fortunate over the last twelve years to live in a neighborhood where most of us know each other by name and are helpful and considerate of each other. At least until this last weekend. Unfortunately, there are certain situations and things that seem to bring out the worst in some people. One of these it seems is water. Our neighborhood is serviced by an irrigation district. When there is a problem with the pipes or valves, as there was with ours this week, the water is turned off until the problem is fixed. Due to repair problems beyond our control, water for a good portion of our neighborhood was turned of for two days. This brought out the “beast” in a neighbor. He wanted his water and he wanted it now. And no we do not live in an area that has been hit with drought, quite the opposite actually. Sadly, fights over water have gone on since time began, hence the old adage “whiskey is for drinking, water is for fightin’ for”. As I found out in dealing with this irate neighbor, logic and reason don’t always figure prominently in the scheme of things when it comes to water. An OSU professor once stated that “water management is conflict management”. It seems he was dead on.

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