Port Issue Affecting Pulse Crops & Blueberry Trade Mission

Port Issue Affecting Pulse Crops & Blueberry Trade Mission

Port Issue Affecting Pulse Crops & Blueberry Trade Mission plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

The port issue here in the northwest is only deepening the woes of farmers across the region. Pete Klaiber, Vice President of Marketing for the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council says pulse crops are one of many being adversely affected.

KLAIBER: This is a major shipping period for us and the delays are certainly having an impact on our business. We have processors and exporters who are unable to meet their contract commitments so contracts are having to be negotiated and in some cases contracts have been cancelled by the buyers because of our inability to get the cargos onboard a ship in a timely way.

Blueberry producers in Oregon are back from a 10-day trade mission to the Philippines and Vietnam where they hope to open trade for Oregon blueberries. The tropical climates of those two nations will not support growing blueberries and Oregon already ships to Japan and South Korea which is the largest export market for fresh blueberries. If official can get the market open in those two countries growers could start shipping as soon as 2016.

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

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Black Friday has come and gone, although 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. What I can get into though, as I did this year and the year before is "Small Business Saturday", which is in its fifth year now; a fairly new holiday shopping concept where you choose to support the local economy by shopping at small local businesses. In fact, many states' are now promoting the "Small Business Saturday" concept to extend beyond that post Thanksgiving shopping day to become an embraced shopping ideology that is applied throughout the rest of the year, stressing that "every dollar spent at a local business is recirculated three times more in the community than a dollar spent at a chain store".

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

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