Wolf Management Grant & Specialty Crop Assistance Announced

Friday Oct 3rd, 2014 39 Views Northwest Report

Wolf Management Grant & Specialty Crop Assistance Announced plus Too Much Sodium. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

A $53-thousand dollar grant has been awarded to Oregon to be used in implementing livestock management techniques or nonlethal wolf deterrent techniques designed to discourage interactions between wolves and livestock. The bulk of prevention monies have historically been awarded to the four counties that have a sustained wolf presence, but could be expanded into the other seven counties depending on the type of preventative project proposed, and as the wolf range expands and livestock/wolf interaction occurs.

Specialty crops in all 50 states got a boost yesterday with the announcement by Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack of additional funds being made available for specialty crops.

VILSACK: Today we announce the availability of $66-million dollars that will help fund 838 projects around the country. These resources will be used for a variety of purposes. They'll be assisting states and producers in marketing specialty crops. There'll be resources that are made available to improve food safety, to increase productivity, to deal with research opportunities in terms of plant health.

The northwest is home to a great many specialty crops which include fruits and vegetables in addition to nuts and nursery products.

Despite years of efforts to get us to take in less sodium in our diets, most of us are still getting far too much sodium. Gary Crawford has more.

(USDA Report)

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