12-26 NWR Otter Ag Secretary

This is your Northwest report for Monday, December 26, I'm David Sparks and a conversation with Idaho Farm Bureau reporter and blogger Jake Putnam could foretell great things for agriculture in the Northwest. Trump considering Otter for Ag Secretary. Idaho Governor under consideration for President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter is being vetted for the secretary of Agriculture position, Otter's press secretary, Jon Hanian, confirmed to the media. Hanian didn't say how far along the vetting process is, or how many other candidates are under consideration. 

The secretary of Agriculture heads up the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a federal department responsible for developing and executing laws related to farming, agriculture, forestry and food. Otter has extensive experience in agriculture, including 30 years working for agribusiness Simplot. 

Elsewhere and something very important to remember, for those of you who are raising livestock in the Northwest, very shortly major changes will take place in the way livestock producers administer medically-important antibiotics to food-producing animals.