Snow, Paying for Fires & Organic Growth

The weather forecaster have not been expecting a lot of moisture for this winter but then they are the first to tell you that Mother Nature will often times surprise even them and that's what happened as up to eight inches of snow fell on Stevens Pass on Wednesday. Obviously we will need considerably more than one, eight in snow to get us out of the drought but it was a welcome sight.

The recently ended fire season, with huge fires in Washington state and California, was among the worst on record. Sixty percent of the U.S. Forest Service's spending went to firefighting. The way the system works could mean firefighting projects might lose funding at least temporarily whenever the Forest Service has to raid non-firefighting accounts to pay for firefighting needs.Legislation to classify severe wildfires as natural disasters for funding purposes seeks to address the problem. The next federal spending bill, which must clear Congress by Dec. 11, should contain such a measure.

Want to make more money, faster? A WSU study suggests that organic farms can actually provide a quicker route to profits because farmers can fetch higher prices. David Granatstein, WSU Sustainable Agriculture Specialist

And that's Washington Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.