Organic Trade Agreement & Groundbreaking plus Free Weekend

Organic Trade Agreement & Groundbreaking plus Free Weekend

Organic Trade Agreement & Groundbreaking plus Free Weekend. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

A new agreement will expand U.S. organic offerings into Japan's markets starting in January. USDA Deputy Administrator Miles McEvoy explains equivalency agreements for organic trade between the U.S. and three trading partners - Canada, the European Union, and Japan.

McEVOY: These equivalency arrangements then accept their regulatory structure on organic products and allow those organic products produced in Canada, the European Union and now Japan to be traded into the U.S. market and sold as organic. And vise versa, U.S. producers and processors when they get their USDA Organic certification they can then freely trade those products and sell those products as organic in Canada, the EU and now Japan.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held yesterday for the new Washington State University Wine Science Center in Richland. The research and teaching conducted inside the $23-million dollar Wine Science Center will be specific to the challenges and opportunities faced by grape-growers and wine makers in Washington state, and is projected to help triple the economic impact of this $8.6 billion industry to reach more than $20 billion by 2020.

Now it will be a fee free weekend. Rod Bain reports.

(USDA Report)

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

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