Japan Opens to Wheat & New Website Answers Questions

Japan Opens to Wheat & New Website Answers Questions plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Good news for northwest wheat. Japan has reopened their doors to northwest wheat after that incident on an Oregon farm where a small amount of genetically modified wheat was found. The investigation is still going on but some reports are that there is doubt they will ever discover how the wheat found its way into the field. Japan is satisfied that their supply is safe and will begin taking shipments as of tomorrow.

And in a related story...a new program has been announced designed to give the general public answers to questions regarding genetically modified foods. GMOAnswers.com spokesperson Cathleen Enright says it’s an open and honest dialogue.

ENRIGHT: Food is a very emotional issue as we know and so we want to have the conversation about food and about how our food is grown. We’re going to hear those questions and be able to provide answers from independent experts to address questions that are emotion focused; fact focused; science focused.

The site is sponsored by the six largest biotech companies which might be a bit of a hard pill to swallow for some consumers.

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

What’s old is new again. That can be said for just about anything from fashion to farming. Take rooftop farming for instance, which seems to be the in thing to do now days. According to City Farmer News New York City had its first rooftop farm way back in 1904 on top of the Ansonia Hotel. That’s right, 109 years ago! Reportedly there were several hundred chickens, along with a few ducks, goats, and even a small bear. Guests and tenants of the hotel were treated to fresh eggs every morning by the hotel’s bellhop, and it was kept sustainable and profitable by selling surplus to the public in the hotel’s basement shops. But even back then it seems some city officials had a problem with seeing the importance and need for sustainable agriculture in an urban setting. The city’s department of health shut down the rooftop farm in 1907 and sent the animals to live in Central Park. Today more and more cities are seeing the benefit of turning vast acreage of flat rooftops into productive community food growing spaces, which really seems like a no-brainer when you think about it - a win win for everyone involved. Sustainable urban agriculture can be economically viable for just about every city, and thank goodness that today we can recognize that.

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