Passing A Unified Farm Bill & Wildfire Awareness

Passing A Unified Farm Bill & Wildfire Awareness

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

More than 500 agriculture, conservation, nutrition, rural development, finance, forestry, energy and crop insurance organizations collaborated Tuesday in sending a letter to House Speaker John Boehner urging him to bring the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 back to the House floor for a vote as soon as possible. In the letter several Washington organizations, including the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, Washington Farm Bureau, the Washington Farmers Union, Washington State Council of Farmer Cooperatives and the Washington State Dairy Federation, joined fellow organizations around the nation in stressing the benefits of a unified farm bill, and cautioned that nutrition and farm program bills may fail to pass as standalone bills.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey reports that it’s going to remain hot in parts of the Inland and Pacific Northwest.

RIPPEY: The real risk for wildfires over the next several days and in fact the next several weeks will be into the interior Northwest and parts of California, and with the hot dry breezy conditions that kind of brings the wildfire risk to the forefront.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources is urging wildfire awareness this 4th of July as warmer temperatures and expected dry conditions highly increase the chance of wildfires. If you and your family are spending your holiday weekend at one of the numerous National or state parks here in the Pacific Northwest, remember to be careful with campfires and other outdoor activities. Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark says unattended campfires, faulty vehicle or motorcycle mufflers, careless disposal of cigarettes, and reckless outdoor burning boost the Fourth of July weekend forest fire potential.

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