No Farm Economy Collapse & Hort Convention

No Farm Economy Collapse & Hort Convention plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

There are some folks out there that are running around like Chicken Little saying the sky is going to fall on the farming community. But the top USDA analyst says, unlike some of his counterparts, he doesn't see a major future collapse in the farm economy from falling crop prices and a cooling of the farm real estate market. Joe Glauber says there is reason to believe there will be some reduction in yearly increases in real estate value but...

GLAUBER: I don't think that necessarily means that real estate prices would plummet or anything like that I'm just saying that the 10% growth, the 20% growth that we've seen over the last few years - we expect those growth rates to slow and flatten.

The Washington State Horticultural Associations annual convention and trade show gets underway today at the convention center in Wenatchee, Washington. The convention is the culmination of the tree fruit growers year and is a chance to get with fellow producers to compare notes and to attend seminars on a variety of subjects in addition to spending some time talking to vendors about new products and ideas. The convention runs through Wednesday.

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

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. Black Friday has come and gone, well sort of. Black Friday, like the time taken off by some for the Christmas holiday, seems to be creeping well beyond its one day boundary and taken up the mantle of Black Friday week. I have never been much for bracing the cold to stand in line for a bargain on Black Friday or any other day, but on Black Friday especially. It's a day that seems to bring out the worst in people, and I for one do not want to start my holiday season in a frame of mind that neither brings good feelings towards my fellow man or good cheer. Now I am not suggesting anything so brash as boycotting stores during this time. I know that the people who have to work selling during such buying frenzies are doing so to make a living. What I can get into though, and I did this year, is the concept of "Small Business Saturday", a fairly new holiday shopping concept where you choose to support the local economy by shopping at small local businesses. In fact, it would be nice to see "Small Business Saturday" stretch well beyond its one day boundary, and become an embraced shopping ideology that is applied throughout all the days of the year.

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