11/21/06 New House Ag Chair & USDA Food Safety

New House Ag Chair & Food Safety plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson will officially become Chair of the House Ag Committee in the new year - but with such a busy 2007 ahead - Peterson`s already thinking ahead to the upcoming farm bill. In fact - Peterson says he met with U.S. Ag Secretary Mike Johanns Monday to get a head start on dealing with differing opinions. PETERSON: We've talked through some things. We've had some differences about where he wants to go versus where we want to go and we talked through some of those. One of the reasons I wanted to do that right away was I told him we do not want to get into a confrontation with the White House or the Administration that we'd like to as much as possible work kind of work through these things ahead of time so that we can kind of be on the same page. I think that it's better for agriculture if we can work that way. We still have some differences. He and I talked through a number of those and I think we have set a good starting point to work through things with the administration. Thanksgiving is just around the corner - and USDA wants all consumers to remember food safety when preparing the all-important Turkey feast. In fact - USDA`s new nationwide food safety public education campaign encourages folks to remember four easy tips - clean, separate, cook and chill - and put them into practice during the holiday. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. This week both boys will be coming home for Thanksgiving break armed with stories and exhausted by university mid-terms. Given the fact each son has attended three different colleges I have become an authority of sorts on the fact that students are sitting ducks for savvy marketers. Yes, there are some businesses in college towns that take advantage our kids. My boys have paid too much for computer repairs, oil changes, and of course the notorious great, text book rip off. Tell me how a paper back can be worth $150 before the class and $10 when it's over? The latest college episode involved spaying a dog. The vet near campus charged a whopping 20 percent more than our vet or any other vet in that college town. Fortunately my son hails from a family of dog lovers with great vets, thus immediately questioned the exorbitant fee, but most kids wouldn't, instead they will learn the wrong lesson when attempting to be a responsible pet owner. Unscrupulous practices must be exposed, if only so they don't take away from the many college town businesses that go out on a limb for students by sponsoring events and discounting services. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.