House Passes Farm Bill Split & West Nile Warning

House Passes Farm Bill Split & West Nile Warning. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The House has finally passed the farm bill...but just the farm-farm bill. They voted to kick the controversial food stamp issue down the road even though a number of ag industry groups were against it. And up until early yesterday morning it was believed there would not be enough votes to pass the split measure. Washington Congressman Doc Hastings says it needed to get it done.

HASTINGS: What brought the farm bill down were provisions in the nutrition programs, the 80% if you will. But it is important to have farm programs in place. It’s important for example in my district in Central Washington because of the research dollars, because of the market access dollars that help promote our products overseas, those are important programs for agriculture.

Idaho’s Ada County officials say the West Nile virus was found recently in a sampling of mosquitoes. Ada County has aggressively stepped up its efforts this year to monitor mosquitoes by varying the styles of traps they use and by increasing the number of trap locations. Last year, 12 Idahoans were infected with West Nile virus. In 2006, Idaho led the nation in West Nile virus infections with almost 1,000 infections, which contributed to 23 deaths.

Now with more on the House Farm Bill, here’s Gary Crawford.

(USDA Report)

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