GMO Endorsement & Beef Prices Stuck

GMO Endorsement & Beef Prices Stuck plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

Those high beef prices may be a round a little longer. Recently released government data shows retail beef prices climbed roughly five-percent during 2013. Consumers paid an average of nearly $3.50 per pound for 100-percent ground beef. USDA's Economic Research Service is projecting beef prices will rise faster than almost anything else this year. Prices could rise seven to eight-percent this year and roughly the same amount in 2015 which means we will all be paying a bit more at the store.

GMO's or genetically modified organisms have gotten an endorsement from a very unlikely source. Mother Jones-dot-com says few agricultural issues are more politically charged than the debate over genetically modified organisms. Yale University neurologist Steven Novella says the anti-GMO arguments are strictly emotional with the fear and propaganda that it's somehow unnatural or that the natural state of food is being altered. Selective breeding to genetically modify plants and animals has been around since the early 1800's.

NOVELLA: Everything, pretty much, that people eat today has been transformed beyond recognition from what it was as it evolved in nature.

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

Anyone who has tended their own garden knows that fruits and vegetables don't just naturally grow picture perfect. In fact, more often than not they can be down right homely. But does that mean they won't taste as good or aren't as nutritious? No, it just means we have to get over our predisposed notion that we have to have beautiful vegetables. When did we become so fixated on perfection when it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables? Better question - would people buy the unshapely fruits and vegetables if offered to them at a reduced price. Giving consumers the option might just be a good way to help reduce food waste. Or perhaps grocery stores could cash in on the uniqueness of "ugly" produces and create a marketing campaign around getting kids to enjoy their "funny shaped" fruits and veggies! There is a move in Europe to reverse the unsustainable practice of throwing out ugly produce, and in fact German students started the "Ugly Fruits Campaign" aimed at getting misshapen produce back into supermarkets and available to consumers. Who knows, maybe Americans will accept "ugly" produce on their supermarket shelves in the not too distant future.

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