Still Implementing the Farm Bill & Immigration Is Dead

Still Implementing the Farm Bill & Immigration Is Dead plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

It has been 6 months since the farm bill was signed and USDA agencies have been working to implement various parts of it while also creating rules and programs for other parts. USDA Under Secretary Michael Scuse says the timing of the passage of the farm bill has added urgency to getting many of its programs implemented.

SCUSE: Ideally a farm bill would get passed in the autumn and not passed and signed in the month of February. It's just a little bit difficult to get a farm bill implemented when it is passed and signed into law that late. It is a trillion dollars . It is about 900 pages long and it's now only 4 months old and the crop year is already upon us.

Lawmakers on both sides of the immigration reform issue have said immigration is effectively dead until after President Obama leaves office - even though the President called immigration reform his top priority for his second term. Friday marked a year since the Senate approved a comprehensive immigration bill on a bipartisan vote with no progress evident in the House and few working days left to approve legislation. Lawmakers and immigration reform advocates say Representative Eric Cantor's loss in his primary election and a new crisis on the Mexican border are partly to blame for the inevitable delay of immigration reform.

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

The newest study on food preparation and handling conducted by the University of California involving participants all along the west coast points out some interesting and rather surprising observations. But one observation is perhaps not so surprising, and that is that "cross-contamination and insufficient cooking are the most common risks found while observing the handling and preparation of raw poultry". It would seem by now to be a "no-brainer", but researchers found through video observation of participating households that 64% of them didn't wash their hands first before preparing a meal. I know, yuk. Even yuckier, 38% didn't wash their hands after handling raw chicken. Those two stood out as perhaps the most surprising. The error of undercooking and improperly storing of foods can be more easily understood, but in light of this study's findings the state Departments of Agriculture in California, Oregon and Washington along with other ag and food safety partners will be launching a campaign to help educate consumers on safe food handling and preparation practices at home.

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