10/24/06 Extending Farm Bill & Mexico Says No

Extending the Farm Bill & Mexico says no. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. The American Farm Bureau Federation held a webcast Friday to give members a thorough briefing on economic and policy considerations ahead of the next farm bill debate. AFBF chief lobbyist Mary Kay Thatcher says Farm Bureau remains committed to an extension of the Farm Bill  and that most Ag producers in the nation support that position. THATCHER: What you pick up in the country is indeed that people are pretty happy with this farm bill and think it's not very likely we're going to be able to do much better so an extension is a good idea. Thatcher says it's difficult to predict what will actually make it into the farm bill ahead of the November elections. But she says if Democrats actually do take the House and Senate  farmers and ranchers will know a lot more about how the farm bill debate is going. THATCHER: If the Democrats take over the House and the Senate, it'll likely be a far more open, far more transparent process than it is likely to be if we continue to have the Republicans in power of the House, the Senate and the administration. Mexico`s Agriculture Department last week turned down seven requests for biotech planting - including requests from St. Louis-based Monsanto and DuPont`s Pioneer Hi-Bred International. The decision has added heat to the biotech debate in the country. Environmentalists say the decision will help prevent biotech corn from contaminating native varieties in Mexico. Biotech supporters - on the other hand - say the government is keeping farmers from enjoying the advantages of biotechnology - including the potential to reduce pesticide and herbicide use. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. We live in a culture that literally worries itself sick, remember the bird flu? Well now its wildlife dung! As if concern over global warming, suburban growth and industrial pollution, weren't enough, we are now supposed to fear&. animal poop! This latest irrational environmental rhetoric comes from scientists who are determined to clean up Mother Nature, (as if she needs wiping!) It seems the Environmental Protection Agency is blaming wildlife for high bacteria count in streams and rivers. Now having grown up waterskiing on the lovely brown waters of the Willamette River near Portland I think I would take my chances with goose poop over septic or industrial run off any day. The raccoon poop, deer poop and goose poop that the EPA so fears is poisoning the suburbs caused me to think back to when Lewis and Clark first saw the abundance of wildlife in the Northwest. Now in all their journal entries I don't recall any mention of the region being overrun with animal dung& on the contrary it was incredibly pristine. We need to stop manufacturing things to worry about. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.