School Lunch & Owl Release

School Lunch & Owl Release

School Lunch & Owl Release plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

All over the country we are seeing kids heading back to school and when they head for the lunchroom, USDA hopes it will be a smarter lunchroom. Food and Nutrition Services Undersecretary Kevin Concannon talks about the progress made since 2010 when the HealthierUS School Challenge and the Healthy Hunger-free Kids Act were implemented.

CONCANNON: Since the beginning of that challenge more than 66-hundred schools across the country have joined it. We're encouraged by the fact that in the two transition years we're now up to 90% of schools meeting those standards and we hope our listeners as well as media across the country can become better acquainted with the goals of helping students make better food nutrition choices in their school.

One vineyard in the Willamette Valley is using a natural form of pest control. Sokol Blosser is an organic winery located in Dayton, Oregon and they have a history of earth friendly wine production. Last week, they released three barn owls into their Willamette Valley vineyard inane effort to reduce the problem of gophers and voles. Those pests are a food source for the barn owls and it's hoped that the owls will help reduce the populations of the pests.

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

Research studies have reported that over forty percent of the food in the U.S is wasted. Those same reports state that the amount of edible food thrown out by grocery stores on a daily basis is astronomical. With today's rising grocery costs most of us can't afford to be that nonchalant about wasting food. Last month the nation's food banks joined a competition to sign up the most donors in the U.S. Food Waste Challenge. That challenge will be coming to a close this week, and the USDA and Feeding America will be determining a winner in early September. Food banks joining in the friendly competition were to list what activities they and their donors would undertake to help reduce, recycle or recover food waste in their operations. Ag Secretary Vilsack stated that, "When we do our part to lower food waste, we can help ease pressure on our natural resources and feed families in need. Through the Food Waste Challenge, food banks, producers, manufactures, and retailers are stepping up to do just that." Indeed, we should all be stepping up to do our part to lower food waste.

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

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