Giant Pumpkin & Natural Gas Supply

Giant Pumpkin & Natural Gas Supply

Giant Pumpkin & Natural Gas Supply plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

Wow. It's hard the believe that the midwest has already had a major winter storm move through and brought lots of cold temperatures along with the snow. t looks like farmers who use natural gas for heat and running irrigation pumps will get a break this fall and winter. American Gas Association Policy Analyst Bruce McDowell says the supply side looks good.

McDOWELL: Now we have an ample supply of gas and we can find it and get it out of the ground more efficiently than we did say three or four years ago. Prices are low, among the lowest they've been in decades and this is going to help people when it comes time to pay their gas bill. Temperature is always the wildcard. A significant cold snap will temporarily cause an increase in natural gas prices.

It was a giant record setter. But it was only a second place pumpkin. Joel Holland of Puyallup's 1,791-pounder smashed the Washington State record of 1,505 pounds but during the 19th Annual Elk Grove, California GIANT Pumpkin Festival it was only good enough for a second place prize. The winning pumpkin weighed in at 1,874.5 pounds. That'a a lot of pumpkin.

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

The GMO food labeling fight is in full swing in the Evergreen State where, like California's Proposition 37, Washington's Initiative 522 appears to be having an uphill battle. Initiative 522 requires that food with genetically-modified organisms be labeled at the retail level. Those in favor of the initiative say that GMO foods are unhealthy for the environment and people, therefore foods containing genetically modified organisms should be labeled as such; those opposed say there isn't any reliable scientific evidence that proves GMO foods are health risks and that Initiative 522 would provide misleading information to consumers, increase food costs, and hurt family farms. As You Sow, Green Century Capitol Management, the Environmental Working Group, and the U.S. PIRG will be holding a conference call this week for the media to announce new actions to persuade big food companies to stay out of the fight in Washington state to label GMO foods. These groups are targeting the top ten donors who helped fund the opposition to California's Prop. 37. Succeed or fail, Washington's Initiative 522 is sure to bring more voters to the polls this November 5th than there's been in a very long time.

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

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