Poultry Ban & Conservation Partnership Program

Poultry Ban & Conservation Partnership Program. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

As expected, China has now issued a ban on U.S. poultry and eggs following the detection of avian influenza in a couple of northwest noncommercial flocks. Shawna Smith, Vice President of the Pacific Northwest Poultry Association says they are trying make sure the information out there is factual.

SMITH: There's a lot of rumors and there's some truth. Rumors, thanks to social media tend to really fan the flames unnecessarily sometimes. Generally as poultry people at least enhanced quarantine and biosecurity is key always. Whether there's a current outbreak of something or not. That's one of the best practices that anybody can have.

USDA has announced 115 new high-impact projects as part of the new USDA Regional Conservation Partnership Program. The northwest will see a dozen projects receive funds for mainly water projects as well as restoring some wildlife habitats for sage grouse along with oak and prairie habitats. These projects will leverage an estimated $400 million more in partner contributions—for a total of nearly $800 million. RCPP competitively awards funds to conservation projects designed by local partners specifically for their region.

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