Banning Canola & REAP Grants plus Defining Sustainability

Banning Canola & REAP Grants plus Defining Sustainability. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Acting Under Secretary for Rural Development Doug O’Brien announced over 600 projects in 42 states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands yesterday as part of the REAP program.

O’BRIEN: It’s a program that was first created in 2002 and really revamped and provided some significant resources in the 2008 farm bill. And it provides loan guarantees and grants to farmers and rural small businesses to purchase and install renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements typically to reduce energy use.

Oregon’s Willamette Valley will not see any canola growing for at least the next 5 years after Gov. Kitzhaber signed House Bill 2427 which overturns an earlier decision to allow some 2,500 acres of canola to be planted. The ban will allow OSU researchers to study whether there is a risk to specialty seed production in the state. Canola is a good rotation crop but specialty seed producers say it will run the vegetable seed industry out of the valley.

Now what does sustainable agriculture really mean? Susan Carter has more.

(USDA Story)

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